Psycho on spree jabs women with needle, arrested

CHENNAI: An apparently deranged man attacked two women with a large sack-sewing needle in Ayanavaram on Monday evening before members of the public helped police arrest him.
The Ayanavaram police said they had been searching for Silambarasan, 24, a house painter who lives in Nammalwarpet in Purasawalkam and has been on a violent spree over the past week, after receiving complaints from three other women in the locality about a man attacking them with a needle.
On Monday evening, Silambarasan was sitting and smoking on a two-wheeler on Somasundara Devar 5th Street, Ayanavaram, when two women walked past him.
The women, who work for a company in the neighbourhood, told patrolling policemen that Silambarasan suddenly sneaked up from behind them and stabbed one of them on the thigh with the needle. Before the woman could react, he stabbed her colleague too.
The women were walking towards their office when Silambarasan jabbed them with the needle. After the attack, he jumped on his motorbike and attempted to escape when passersby alarmed by the women's screams chased and caught him.
"When we questioned him, he offered a completely different version of events from the account that the women and witnesses gave us," Ayanavaram inspector R Kanagaraj said. "He claimed that the women abused him, which provoked him to attack them. The women said they did not know him and denied that they said anything to him."
Silambarasan, who got married three months ago, did not behave out of the ordinary as he went about his daily routine, the inspector said. However, his acquaintances told police that he always carried a large needle.
A mental health expert said Silambarasan appeared to have a psychopathic disorder relating to a traumatic experience that involved women in the past.
"The man is obviously disturbed and has unresolved issues," clinical psychologist R Manoj said. "It's possible that a woman hurt him either physically or emotionally. The attacks could be a manifestation of the bitterness he nurtures against women in general."
Police seized two needles from Silambarasan and booked him under Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Harassment of Women Act.