Lock Em Up & Throw the Keys Away!

SHAH ALAM: Police have, with immediate effect, removed 11 constables and lance corporals from the Subang Taipan police station where the case of A. Kugan, a detainee, who died in their custody, was reclassified as murder yesterday.
Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said the policemen were currently at the contingent headquarters here doing desk duties."They are here to speed up the investigation. We expect to complete the investigations within three days."Police are still recording and compiling statements. Once the investigations are complete we will decide on the next course of action depending on the investigations report."In Kuching, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said an in-depth investigation would be carried out.
He said this was despite the initial post-mortem which indicated that Kugan had died of pulmonary edema or fluid accumulation in the lungs.Musa, however, condemned the actions of a mob which forced its way into the Serdang Hospital mortuary on Tuesday night, evicted the hospital staff and locked themselves in for two hours.They were believed to have taken pictures of Kugan's body, which they claimed had bruises all over."The mob incident has only tampered with evidence, which shouldn't happen in the first place. The group should not have obstructed the medical team from performing their duties that night," said Musa after chairing the 1st Tripartite meeting between the police chiefs of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei yesterday.Police have also contacted the two deputy ministers, Senator T. Murugiah and Datuk S.K. Devamany, both with the Prime Minister's Department, to have their statements recorded.Both were said to have been there during the incident. In Kuala Lumpur, Devamany, while saying that he would cooperate with the police, added: "The reclassification of the case as murder is good. I don't regret going there (mortuary). The rakyat needed us (Murugiah and him). "After all, as an MIC central working committee member and as a deputy minister, this is my job...to serve the rakyat and to serve the Indian community when they needed help."If there is no foul play, then no one should be afraid. Let the law prevail. For now, I can see that with the murder charges, justice has prevailed," he saidPolice have also identified most of the 50 people in the mob at the mortuary.Meanwhile, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission welcomed Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail's instruction to the police to investigate the death of Kugan.Its chairman, Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, said probing the death was the "right thing to do"."Let the police gather evidence so that the attorney-general can act without fear or favour and for the next course of action to be taken," he said.The Malaysian Bar hoped the authorities' attention would not be focused on the incident at the mortuary while investigating Kugan's death. Its president, Datuk Ambiga Sreenivasan, said the people's reaction only reflected their feelings who were understandably outraged and emotional over the death. Ambiga said this incident once again prompts for an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission to be set up."We also call on the authorities to expedite the ongoing inquests into other custodial deaths," she said.

posted by Jeyapalan.T.S.Mahesan {jeyapalantsmahesan.blogspot.com}