Swathi murder case: Eyewitness made to identify the accused

Chennai, July 12: In a recent development in the Infosys techie murder case, Chennai Police conducted identification parade of the prime accused P Ram Kumar in Puzhal Central Prison today.

According to reports, parade began at 10.30 am and lasted for nearly an hour.

S Swathi's father Santhana Gopalakrishnan and Sivakumar, a shopkeeper on the Nungambakkam railway station platform, were the two main witnesses who came to identify the main accused. They both were taken by the police to the central prison early in the morning for the identification parade.

During identification parade around 25 persons along with the prime accused Ram Kumar, were lined up. The whole process was conducted amidst tight security in the jail.

What is Identification parade?

This is a main process carried out in the criminal cases and one of the major factors in this particular case. In the whole process people with similar facial features are lined together along with the main accused of a case and the eyewitness are asked to identify the main accused present during the crime spot.

The whole process is conducted in the presence of a judicial magistrate, who is deputed by a Chief Metropolitan Magistrate on request of the investigation officer and the magistrate records the proceedings. The prison official usually arranges five to ten other inmates from the prison who have similar identities with the accused, to stand during the parade process.

Earlier, Madras High Court had directed the police not to circulate the images of the prime accused in the Swathi murder case before the Identification parade as eyewitness memory may get affected by the photos that appear in media.

Extra guards and talkative prison inmates are been provided to Ram Kumar to keep his spirit up and keep a suicidal watch on him.

OneIndia News