A day after 20-year-old Sathya Priya was killed after being pushed in front of a moving train at St Thomas Mount railway station in Chennai, the city police arrested her stalker Sathish in the early hours of Friday, October 14. Twenty-three-year-old Sathish, who pushed Sathya Priya, went absconding after the crime. Sathya Priya was a B.Com second year student studying at a private college.
On October 13, Sathya was waiting for the train when Sathish approached her and engaged in a tussle. Sathish pushed her onto the tracks as the electric train was entering the station. The railway police arrived at the spot and retrieved Sathya’s body from the tracks and the body was sent for postmortem. Four teams were formed under the Railway police and three teams formed by the St Thomas Mount Commissioner of Law and Order. Sathish, who absconded after the crime, was found in Thoraipakkam and has been taken to Mambalam police station for further inquiry. Meanwhile, Sathya’s father Manickam, who was a heart patient, suffered a heart attack after he heard about the death of his daughter. He was admitted to a hospital for treatment but passed away.
According to police Sathish, was known to her and had been harassing Sathya for a whole year. Both Sathya and Sathish lived in the same area in Guindy. Sathish is the son of a retired Special Sub Inspector (SSI), who worked at the Adambakkam police station. Sathya’s mother is a head-constable at the same police station.
On May 20, 2022, Sathya’s mother Ramalakshmi filed a complaint at the Mambalam police station, alleging that Sathish had an argument with her daughter outside her college. The police registered an FIR and booked Sathish under section 75 of Tamil Nadu City Police Act,1888 – penalty for drunkenness or riotous or indecent behaviour in public place. Sathish was arrested but granted bail by the police the same day. Sathish was not booked for stalking or harassment. Two days later, Ramalakshmi filed another complaint at the St Thomas Mount railway station against Sathish. Sources told TNM that the police asked both families to appear for an inquiry. However, a ‘compromise’ was struck and no FIR was registered. Ramalakshmi was made to give in writing that she didn’t want to proceed further with the complaint.
Despite the complaints against him and the police’s ‘compromise’, Sathish did not stop harassing Sathya. Sources tell TNM that Sathish had instead taken to stalking Sathya wherever she went. Questions are now being raised as to why no case of stalking or harassment was filed against Sathish, an offence that would have attracted more stringent punishment.
Sathya’s murder in broad daylight at a railway station was a chilling reminder of similar crimes in Chennai in the past. In September 2021, a 25-year-old-man stabbed a 20-year-old woman to death near the Tambaram Railway Station. The woman, identified as Swetha, was a second-year student at Madras Christian College (MCC) while the man Ramachandran was working at a car manufacturing unit in Chengalpattu. The two had known each other for three years, according to the police, and they were having an argument in the railway station when Ramachandran took a knife and stabbed her in the throat. He also tried to slit his throat but was stopped by onlookers and handed over to the police.
In 2016, 24-year-old S Swathi, an employee of Infosys, was hacked to death by 27-year-old P Ramkumar at the Nungambakkam railway station.