Infosys employee murder: Cops describe techie killer, said he used to stalk her

A Hyderabad-based digital forensic firm submitted its report on CCTV footage Tuesday evening, with clearer images of the face of the assailant, aged between 25 to 30 according to one account. The police are expected to release the clear picture with the help of the firm. Investigators said the suspect is lean and “semi-dark and brown-skinned”, a little over 5 feet tall.

A senior officer said they probed statements from Swathi’s parents, one of her close friends and a fellow passenger in the train and concluded that the assailant had been following her for almost two months. “Her father told us that she had told them about someone following her all the way from the railway station early this month. She said the same thing to her close friend, too, about 10 days ago,” the officer said. “A passenger who used to travel with her, too, has given a statement that she had seen the suspect a few times, who was aged between 25 to 30, after Swathi had alerted her each time he came to the coach.”

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The passenger said the suspect used to board a general coach next to the women’s compartment. “When she travelled to office, he would come to the window of the women’s compartment at every station the train stopped at. The passenger said she had seen him a few times in May. The description matches that of the person caught in the CCTV footage,” the officer said.

“It looks like we may have to rule out a serial killer or the possibility of mistaken identity,” a senior officer said. “Since we have no reason to suspect that the victim and the assailant knew each other, he must have been a stalker who hoped to get her attention some day.”

Pulling up the short-staffed railway wing for an alleged delay in the probe and lack of coordination, Madras High Court handed the case over to city police Monday. Teams of cyber crime and Crime Branch-CID personnel are assisting the investigation team.