Murder or suicide? Chaotic scenes outside Chennai morgue where Ramkumar's body lies

It was dusk on Monday when the lawyer of P Ramkumar, the alleged killer of Infosys employee S Swathi, emerged from the morgue of the Royapettah Government Hospital in Chennai.

As cameramen and journalists swarmed around SP Ramraj, whose client was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Sunday, scores of policemen attempted to control the mayhem.

Ever since word spread on Sunday evening about Ramkumar’s alleged suicide in Puzhal Prison in Chennai, the Royapettah High Road attracted an increasing number of people, including reporters and camera persons, workers of various political parties and curious onlookers. More than 100 policemen were deployed in the area to to handle the crowd.

The situation did not change much on Monday. All shops along the road were shut and the police blocked the entrance to the morgue, where Ramkumar’s body lay. Cameramen jostled around the gate of the morgue, and perched on the terraces of nearby buildings, vying for a good shot of the morgue.

Mysterious death

Ramkumar was arrested in July in connection with the murder of S Swathi, who was hacked to death at Nungambakkam railway station on June 24. On Sunday evening, the police announced that the 22-year-old had committed suicide by electrocuting himself. Some reports said that he bit a live wire in prison and that was dead by the time he was brought to hospital.

However, lawyer Ramraj produced a recording of a conversation he had with prison authorities, where they attempted to convince him that Ramkumar was taken to hospital because he was feeling unwell.

On Monday morning, Ramraj moved court to take notice of Ramkumar’s unnatural death in custody and demanded a a CBI enquiry into the matter. Ramraj said that Ramkumar could not have killed himself and alleged foul play by the authorities.

The court ordered that the post-mortem on Ramkumar’s body be conducted by a team of four doctors immediately. The bench also said that it was not authorised to order CBI enquiry.

A post-mortem is normally conducted after the judicial magistrate and a family member of the victim signs an acknowledgment. But the procedure was rescheduled for Tuesday as Ramkumar’s family had not arrived yet.

“The post-mortem will be over by tomorrow at 10 am,” Ramraj told journalists waiting outside the morgue. “The arrival of the parents was delayed due to miscommunication by Puzhal jail officials.”

Ramkumar’s parents have vehemently denied that Ramkumar was behind S Swathi’s murder.

The lawyer said that Ramkumar’s parents were with Thol Thirumavalavan, the President of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, the largest Dalit party in Tamil Nadu.

Indeed, a number of blue and red flags of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi were seen waving outside the Royapettah morgue. But they were not the only ones. On Monday, the first to arrive at the morgue were members of the Puthiya Tamizhagam party, another Dalit party, bearing red and green banners. Not to be outdone, workers of the Uttar Pradesh-based Bahujan Samaj Party also streaked across the arterial Royapettah High Road to block off a section of this busy junction.

Every demonstration referred to “innocent Ramkumar” and “our brother Ramkumar” in addition to the general chorus of “We want justice, we want justice, Ramkumar’s killers must be caught”.

The Bahujan Samaj Party spokesperson claimed that Ramkumar was murdered so that the real culprit behind Swathi’s murder was protected. He also alleged that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had a hand in the murder. Further, the party workers said that Ramkumar’s family should be given Rs 1 crore as compensation, and his sister, a government job.

“Had Ramkumar been freed, he would have exposed the real culprits behind the crime,” said the Bahujan Samaj Party spokesperson. “Since the police could not find evidence against Ramkumar, he was murdered.”