A day after killing a 20-year-old Chennai girl by pushing her in front of a suburban train, Sathish has on Friday remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. He was arrested during the wee hours of Friday from Thoraippakkam where he was in a hideout after committing the heinous crime. The chilling murder has sparked a public outcry with thousands of people including celebrities are demanding a stringent punishment for the accused.

After recording shocking confessions from the accused, the police had produced Sathish before the Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Saidapet, Chennai. The court had then awarded a 14-day judicial custody till October 28 for Sathish for further investigations into the murder. The victim, 20-year-old Sathya Priya was a sophomore at a private college in T Nagar and she was waiting for a train with her friends at St Thomas Mount.

It was a normal day under a broad daylight until tension clouded at the station after the incident. Sathish came to the station and was talking to Sathya Priya. Soon, they picked up an argument in the midst of dozens of people and when the train approached the station, Sathish pushed Sathya Priya in front of the train and killed her. With the view of evading from being caught by the people, Sathish fled the spot before the onlookers realized what had happened. 

The police arrived at the spot and retrieved the victim's body and sent it to Rajiv Gandhi Government Hospital for a postmortem. After hearing the news of his daughter's death, Sathya Priya's father Manickam had died of heart attack and these startling developments were closely watched by the state. As Sathish was absconding, the police have formed seven teams and he was arrested on Friday. 

According to the police, Sathish was known to Sathya Priya as they reside in the same area, in Adambakkam near Guindy. Sathish was in a love affair with Sathya Priya while the latter said to have opposed it. Recently, Sathya Priya's parents made arrangements for her marriage in the midst of stalking episodes from Sathish. 

Sathya Priya had filed police complaints against Sathish for stalking her but no actions were taken. During the investigation, Sathish has confessed that Sathya Priya was not talking to him for two months and he decided to kill her and commit suicide. He said he arrived at the station and pushed Sathya Priya in front of the train and when he decided to kill himself, people at the station started screaming after which he fled the spot. 

After the preliminary investigation, the police produced Sathish in a Saidapet court and he was remanded to a 14-day judicial custody. A complaint regarding this was filed at Mambalam police station, the same station where Sathya Priya's mother Ramalakshmi filed a complaint this May against Sathish for the latter had an argument with her daughter outside her college. 

Based on her complaint, the police on May 23 filed an FIR against Sathish and booked him under section 75 of Tamil Nadu City Police Act, 1888 - penalty for drunkenness or riotous or indecent behaviour in public place. While Sathish was arrested by the police, he was granted bail the same day. According to reports, two days later, Ramalakshmi filed another complaint against Sathish at St Thomas Mount police. During this complaint, the police brought both the families to a compromise but no case was registered. 

Furthermore, Ramalakshmi was made to give a written statement that she didn't want to proceed further with the complaint. The death of Sathya Priya had also triggered outrage against the police for neither filing a case against Sathish under the grounds of stalking or harassment nor taking any action against him as such police-made compromises had seemingly encouraged him to continue his awful conduct with Sathya Priya. 

Finally, he was brave enough to kill her and he did it under a broad daylight. Notably, both the families of accused and victim were into law enforcement. While Sathish is the son of a retired Special Sub-Inspector from Adambakkam police station, Sathya Priya's mother Ramalakshmi is a head-constable at the same police station.