Chennai techie mocked 'killer' over his looks which led to murder: police

Prime accused Ram Kumar proposed 24-year-old Swathi in public several times, but she ignored him.

The killer of Infosys techie Swathi made a preliminary confessional statement to the police, saying the 24-year-old girl had verbally abused accused P Ram Kumar over his physical appearance, which enraged him and led to her murder.

Ram Kumar, an engineering graduate, was apprehended by police on Friday from his native Tirunelveli district in south Tamil Nadu. He allegedly attempted suicide by cutting his throat with a blade when surrounded by the police and is undergoing treatment at a government hospital.

Read: Killer Ram Kumar befriended Chennai techie Swathi on Facebook: police

As the accused was under treatment, Tirunelveli JM-1 court magistrate Ramadoss came to the hospital at around 2 pm on Sunday, recorded his statement and remanded him to judicial custody with a transit order as asked by the Nungambakkam police.

Ramkumar was taken to Chennai from Tirunelveli on Sunday in an ambulance after doctors gave permission to travel.

Swathi was hacked to death with a sickle at Nungambakkam railway station on June 24.

Read: Chennai techie murder: Ram Kumar used uncle’s sickle to kill Swathi

The ‘killer’ was not a total stranger to the deceased as investigations suggest the two were already connected on Facebook for some time and Ram Kumar figures in the list of Swathi’s Facebook friends.

Sources said they were in possession of messages exchanged between Swathi and Ram Kumar on the social networking site. The exchanges include chat history and some comments made by Kumar over photographs posted by Swathi.

Read: Chennai techie’s murder likened to ‘ISIS-type beheading’

A senior police official privy to the investigation maintained that most of the interaction between them were of generic nature in greetings. After media houses began flashing pictures of Swathi sourced from her Facebook page, the family had the page deactivated.

It was through social media that the duo exchanged phone numbers. This was how a text message sent by Ram Kumar before committing the murder got delivered to the cloned mobile phone of Swathi. -"Being friends on FB doesn't mean that Swathi approved or encouraged him. She had numerous FB friends. Ram Kumar stalked Swathi on Facebook and he began tracking her in real life too-", noted a senior police official.

Read: Swathi murder case: Prime accused to be brought before court today According to a report, Ram Kumar proposed her in public several times, but Swathi ignored him. Ram Kumar also told police that Swathi abused him on his looks, which he could not bear.

Investigations reveal that Ram Kumar had moved to the city with dreams of making it big in Kollywood and had been waiting a 'chance' from filmmakers, including actor-turned-director S.J. Surya.

Ram Kumar chose Choolaimedu as his place of stay because it was near Swathi's home.

(This story originally appeared in the deccan Chronicle as may the case be)