Hours after a 20-year-old woman died after she was allegedly pushed in front of a moving train in Chennai Thursday, her distraught father died by suicide, police said.
Preliminary reports from Tambaram railway police confirmed that Manickam, 47, consumed poison and died early Friday.
“Manickam collapsed at home on Thursday night, and was taken to a hospital in Saidapet of a reported heart attack. But it has been confirmed that he had consumed poison and failed to respond to treatment. Manickam passed away early on Friday,” railway police said.
Subscriber Only Stories
The autopsies of Manickam and the woman are currently under way at the Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital for autopsy, officials said.
Sathya, a second-year B.Com student, died after she was allegedly pushed in front of a moving train at St Thomas Mount railway station, police said.
Police nabbed Satheesh on Friday morning, the Railway SP confirmed. (Express)
According to police, the incident took place around 1 pm. The accused, identified as Satheesh — a resident of Chennai’s Adambakkam area, got into an argument with the woman, identified as Sathya, while they were standing on the railway platform, police said. During the argument, he pushed her onto the track as the suburban train from Tambaram approached the station, and fled from the spot, police added. Sathya was on her way to college with her friends.
Advertisement
Police said that Sathya studied in a private college, and hailed from the same area of Chennai as the accused. It is learnt that Sathya’s family had lodged police complaints against the man who was troubling her for quite some time.
Police nabbed Satheesh on Friday morning, the Railway SP confirmed.
Soon after the woman was run over by the train, the Railway police from Mambalam and Tambaram and a team from ST Thomas Mount Police station rushed to the scene. The sanitary workers managed to get the body off the track.
Advertisement
The police formed special teams and examined CCTV visuals to nab Satheesh.
Explaining the motive behind the alleged murder, an officer with the Railway police said that Sathya was in a relationship with the man. “When we spoke to her family and friends we came to know that Sathya had stopped talking to Satheesh. This infuriated Satheesh, who tried to meet her, but Sathya ignored him. The family of the girl had lodged a complaint with Mambalam and St Thomas Mount police stations against this man as he continued to harass her. The police were conducting an inquiry based on the complaint,” he said.
The officer added that both the families of the accused and the victim had been staying at Adambakkam in Chennai. Satheesh’s father is a retired police officer while Sathya’s mother is a head constable at Adambakkam police station.
It is to be noted that in September 2021, a 20-year-old college student was allegedly stabbed to death by her ‘boyfriend’ in broad daylight. Swetha, who was a second-year student at Madras Christian College, fatally attacked 25-year-old Ramachandran near the Tambaram railway station. Police said that they were in a relationship. Ramachandran had called the woman to meet in person to sort out the differences between them. The accused, who had a knife hidden in his pocket, stabbed Swetha and attempted to slit his throat. The onlookers caught him and handed him over to police.
A similar incident took place at Nungambakkam railway station in 2016, when a 24-year-old IT professional, Swathi, was allegedly hacked to death by 27-year-old Ram Kumar, an engineering graduate. He later reportedly died by suicide while in prison. The sensational incident led to a row with people asking the government to take steps to safeguard women’s safety in public places.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chennai/chennai-20-year-old-killed-after-being-pushed-in-front-of-train-father-dies-in-shock-8207991/
