CHENNAI: The slain techie Swathi’s father is still inconsolable. While he may have reconciled to the fact that she will never return to the home she loved the most in her life, he repents that he could not fulfil a wish of his daughter whose life was brutally cut short on Friday. In the course of her young life, the slain techie had spoken of her willingness to donate her organs, but since her body was unattended for two hours at the Nungambakkam Railway Station due to laxity on the part of the Railway Police and the time taken for the postmortem, the family could not fulfil her wish.
Her father has a plea for everyone — please let the family mourn Swathi’s death in peace. “Her generosity knew no ends. She is a wonderful human being and I am not saying this because she is my daughter. She would feel for children who beg on the streets and for poor who go to bed on an empty stomach. She would keep talking about the poor and underprivileged. But a tragic end — that too in a murder – to such a nice soul…” Swathi’s father Santhanagopalakrishnan said as tears rolled down his cheeks.
“Both my daughters used to say that they wish to donate their organs after they die. But I could not fulfil Swathi’s wishes since the body was lying at the station for two hours and was handed over to us only around evening, giving no time for us to do anything,” he said. The family, which includes Swathi’s mother and elder sister, says they are “devastated” and feel “let down by the society” with the number of theories doing round relating to the tragic end of the 24-year-old techie, who was hacked to death in a matter of seconds before she was to board a train to her workplace. “My elder daughter even suggested we should either move out of this place (Choolaimedu) or commit suicide,” Mr Santhagopalakrishnan said, breaking down unable to control his emotions.
People should let us mourn her death peacefully:
“What is our mistake? What did my daughter do? She was a god-fearing woman and would recite gayatri mantra every day during her journey. She never wished ill for others. But now, everyone – the social media, the media and others – have different theories about her murder. Why? We don’t understand. People should let us mourn my daughter’s death peacefully,” he said, as Swathi’s mother, shell-shocked since Friday, looked on just staring at the wall.
Still clueless about why his daughter was murdered, Mr Santhana gopalakrishnan says he started dropping her at the Nungambakkam Railway Station close to their residence, regularly after she had complained that a guy was stalking her. “But after I started dropping her, she did not complain of any stalking. Any other theory about her is wrong. She never hid anything from us,” he said.
The parents and Swathi’s sister know she is no more, but they can’t stop looking at the door, waiting for the calling bell to ring after 7.30 pm. “Only after 7.30 pm reality strikes - that she would never be home again. The smiling face would never be seen again.”
