A day after Ramkumar – the lone suspect in the murder of Infosys engineer S Swathi at Chennai’s Nungambakkam railway station – allegedly committed suicide in police custody, questions are swirling over the circumstances of his death.
The police have not yet issued an official statement. But the government hospital in the city’s Royapettah area, where he was taken, have made an entry in its accident register. It states that Ramkumar suffered an “electric shock” at the “dispensary block” of Puzhal Central Prison-II, where he was lodged. The hospital had declared the 24-year-old techie, who had burn marks on his neck and chest, dead on arrival.
Political parties – including those from the Dalit community that Ramkumar was born into – and human rights activists have demanded a thorough, independent probe into the death.
On Monday, the State Human Rights Commission in Tamil Nadu took suo motu cognisance of the alleged suicide and sought a report from the police.
A high-profile crime
On June 24, Chennai woke up to the gory murder of Swathi at Nungambakkam station, from where she took the train to work every day. The 24-year-old was hacked to death with a sickle.
The station, one of Chennai’s busiest, did not have a surveillance camera of its own. But the police managed to get hold of CCTV footage from a house in the neighbourhood. A day later, a grainy picture of a suspect running away from the station was released. The case was transferred to the Chennai police from the railway police.
A massive manhunt was launched. The police went door-to-door in Choolaimedu, a locality close to the railway station, after Swathi's family told them about a stalker who had followed her for a few weeks.
On July 1, the alleged stalker and killer, Ramkumar, was arrested from his native village in Tirunelveli – but not without drama.
When the police surrounded his house, Ramkumar tried to slit his own throat but was saved and taken to hospital, TK Rajendran, who was then Chennai’s police commissioner, told a press conference.
Questions raised
The dramatic arrest made the case even more controversial.
Thol Thirumavalavan, founder of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Tamil Nadu’s largest Dalit political party, raised doubts about the investigation.
Political parties accused the police of leaking information to the media, including an alleged confession by Ramkumar that he had killed Swathi.
Ramkumar’s lawyers claimed he was being made a scapegoat, that he had professed his innocence in a court on July 15 but was denied bail.
Questions were also raised about the police’s failure to file a chargesheet over 85 days after the murder.
The police have to file a chargesheet within 90 days of the registration of the First Information Report, failing which an accused usually gets bail.
Ramkumar’s bail hearing was scheduled for this week, said his lawyer SP Ramaraj, adding that “there was apprehension among many” that Ramkumar could go to the media after his release.
On Monday, Tamil news channel Puthia Thalaimurai telecast a written interview it had done with Ramkumar through his lawyer on September 10. In the interview, the accused rejected the police claim that he had tried to kill himself at the time of his arrest. Instead, he accused the policemen of taking a blade to his throat. He also denied he killed Swathi.
Reacting to Ramkumar’s alleged suicide, the DMK’s MK Stalin said it was “not acceptable and believable”.
The politician Thirumavalavan said the death should not be dismissed as suicide. “The Tamil Nadu government should take responsibility for this death,” he said, demanding a judicial enquiry or an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation into both Swathi’s murder and Ramkumar’s alleged suicide.
Inadequate jail security?
The method that Ramkumar allegedly chose to end his life has also sparked criticism of the security apparatus at the prison. According to media reports, Ramkumar bit a live wire at the dispensary block. He was later found by a jail official, who was alerted after hearing an unusual sound.
Those questioning the circumstance of Ramkumar's death said that he was discovered by the official pointed to the fact that he was alone – thereby implying there were no witnesses to his death.
This led to the question: What was a prisoner with known suicidal tendencies, and one in such a high-profile case, doing alone in his cell in the dispensary block?
In 2011, the National Human Rights Commission came out with guidelines on preventing suicides in custody that specifically said a prisoner with a history of suicide attempts should never be left alone or have access to any live electrical outlets.
The rules say: “A suicidal inmate should not be placed in isolation unless constant supervision can be maintained… Rather, he/she should be housed with another resident or in a dormitory and checked every 10-15 minutes.”
“The room should be as nearly suicide-proof as possible (that is, without protrusions of any kind that would enable the inmate to hang him/herself)… Electricity should be turned off from wall outlets outside the cell… Light fixtures should be recessed into the ceiling and tamperproof. Some fixtures can be securely anchored into ceiling or wall corners when remodelling prohibits recessed lighting.”
The Puzhal prison complex was opened in 2006 and is fairly modern in its construction.
V Suresh, general secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, said a cell is built in such a way that wires remain unreachable since there have been cases of electrocution deaths in the past. "The police have to explain how and why Ramkumar was out of the cell," he said, adding that he had never come across an instance of a person biting an insulated wire in the 30 years he had dealt with prisoners and custodial deaths.
Medical response
The police may also have to answer why they chose to take Ramkumar to the hospital in Royapettah 20 km away when all central prisons, like Puzhal, have a 50-bed hospital with modern facilities, according to the website of the Tamil Nadu prisons department. There are also good private hospitals closer to the prison.
One police officer said, on condition of anonymity, that Ramkumar was given first aid at the prison hospital and only then transferred to the hospital in Royapettah.
The National Crime Records Bureau reveals that 44 prisoners have committed suicide in Tamil Nadu jails since 2010. “Given the number of suicides across jails, it seems as though the life of a prisoner is not valued enough,” said Suresh, calling for a comprehensive assessment of jails in India to see if they follow the guidelines of the National Human Rights Commission.