Father follows girl to grave; stalker nabbed

CHENNAI: Manickam, the father of Sathya, the college student pushed to death in front of an incoming train by a stalker at St Thomas Mount Railway Station on Thursday, died due to a suspected heart attack on Friday morning.

“Initial medical report talked about heart attack. Later there was a report that he had consumed some chemicals. Post- mortem report will reveal the real reason,” said an officer.

Meanwhile, Tambaram railway police nabbed stalker Sathish near Thoraipakkam in the wee hours of Friday.

While Sathya was pursuing B.Com in a private college in T Nagar, her father Manickam (49) was a cab driver and mother Ramalakshmi (43) a head constable at Adambakkam station.

Manickam was heartbroken on hearing about his daughter’s death and reportedly collapsed in the car and was taken to hospital where he died. Ramalakshmi was diagnosed with blood cancer and was on medical leave before rejoining duty a few days ago. Sathya was the eldest of their daughters. The other two are aged 15 and three.

Police said Sathish’s father Dhayalan was a retired SI and the family was neighbours to Sathya a few years ago at Adambakkam police quarters.