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YB Mike Manikavasagam released the second post mortem results today which indicated death due to other reasons than fluid in the lungs. Looks like he was really interrogated until died in custody.
My friend, whom I met over lunch just now, said that if 1 out of 10 crooks died due to police doing their job, he don’t mind. The violence of the criminals nowadays are terrible until the public don’t feel safe anywhere. Even recently, a girl was raped before the criminals stole the car (sorry, can’t reveal more for reasons of privacy).
I think it depends on view. Some view it as a human being’s life being taken away, while others say its in the line of duty and unfortunate things like this happens.
However, I think in this modern age, there are many ways to get information out of suspects. You can’t simply go around whacking the suspect until the person dies. Maybe in the heat of the moment, or due to lack of cooperation from Kugan, some of the policemen overreacted. Thus, the punishment must be meted out for causing death.
Bottom line is that some one died without being sentenced by court of law. In effect, a crime has been committed. If Kuhan was shot while attempting to escape from police or while hijacking a car, then its another story.
The second post-mortem on suspected car thief A. Kugan showed that he died after being repeatedly beaten.
The post-mortem, conducted by a pathologist from the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) at the request of the 22-year-old’s family, also showed that he had multiple burn marks.
These V-shaped burn marks are believed to have been caused by a hot iron, said Kugan’s family lawyer N. Surendran at a press conference at the headquarters of political party PKR here Tuesday.
The first post-mortem conducted at the Serdang Hospital mortuary only examined the body from the chest up, Surendran said.
The second, which examined the entire body, found 42 other marks, burns and contusions from the sole of his feet right up to his head.
The UMMC pathologist declared, based on the post-mortem, that Kugan was beaten so badly that his tissues broke down and his kidneys failedi, Surendran said.
The pathologist also found that Kugan had suffered hemorrhaging in his trachea, chest, spleen, stomach, the back of his neck and spine, and there were also signs of hemorrhaging in his heart.
The soles of his feet had many bruises caused by beatings and he also suffered blunt trauma to his skull.
The family will submit the second post-mortem report to the Attorney-General’s Chambers Wednesday afternoon, he added.
…The initial post-mortem revealed that he had died due to fluid in his lungs, but Kugan’s family entered the Serdang Hospital mortuary that same day and took photographs of his body, which showed severe bruising.
… Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo and Teluk Intan MP M. Manogaran, who were also present at the press conference Tuesday, said that in the future, the Home Ministry should always insist on a second post-mortem when there are doubts over deaths in custody.
Updated report from Malaysiakini:
An independent post-mortem report has revealed that deceased 22-year-old police detainee Kugan Ananthan had endured severe beatings and was also starved during his incarceration.
The post-mortem conducted by a Universiti Hospital pathologist who was commissioned by the deceased’s family found that the car theft suspect had died of kidney failure due to the assault.
The beatings had caused a breakdown in Kugan’s muscle cells which then congested the blood flow and resulted in kidney failure.
The findings were revealed by the family’s lawyer N Surendran at a press conference held in the PKR headquarters in Tropicana this afternoon.
“As opposed to the past statement given by the police and the first post-mortem report (which stated that Kugan died of fluid accumulation in his lungs), the second report shows that he had died of acute renal failure due to rhabdomyolysis.
“Which is to say that he died due to the muscle cells disintegrating into his bloodstream and absorbed by the kidney which resulted in kidney failure and death,” said the lawyer.
‘Burnt with extremely heated iron bar’
Showing pictorial evidence to reporters, Surendran said graphic photos taken from the post-mortem report showed that Kugan suffered from massive internal bleeding due to repeated beatings.
“Kugan had hemorrhage in many of his internal organs, his heart, left lung, spleen, kidneys, back of his neck, spine area and the sole of his feet which shows that he took consistent beatings,” he added.
Kugan also suffered from internal bleeding in the scalp area following repeated beatings with a blunt object.
The post-mortem report also stated that Kugan sustained more than 10 severe burn wounds on his back “probably as a result of being burnt by an extremely heated V-shaped iron bar.”
“Almost the entire part of his back is covered with contusions, beating marks and bruises,” said Surendran, adding that the report also indicated that Kugan “was starved during the entire time he was tortured.”
“In brief, it appears that Kugan was severely tortured over period of days and the kind of pain he had suffered is unimaginable.
“One could only imagine what was going through this young man’s mind (during the torture). Perhaps, he had wanted to die (to escape the torture), we wouldn’t know,” he said.
Procedural exclusion in first post-mortem
Another baffling point, said Surendran, is the fact that the second post-mortem report indicated that no examination below the heart area of Kugan’s body was conducted during the first post-mortem.Surendran said this was puzzling as it is compulsory for any pathologist to conduct a complete check-up.
The independent post-mortem report was commissioned by Kugan’s family after they were dissatisfied with the first report tendered by Serdang Hospital.
Kugan had died on Jan 20 at the Taipan police station in Subang Jaya, five days after he was arrested in connection with the theft of luxury cars.
Meanwhile, Surendran said the second post-mortem conducted by Dr Prashant N Samberkar from the UniversitI Malaya Medical Centre is not just an investigation into the death of an individual.
“This is a damning indictment on the Malaysian police force. I hope the police will hang their heads in shame, institute thorough reforms and stop placing obstacles in the implementation of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC),” he stressed.
Report to be submitted to AG tomorrow
Teluk Intan DAP parliamentarian M Manogaran, who was also present at the press conference, said he and other Pakatan Rakyat leaders will submit the post-mortem report to the Attorney-General’s Chambers in Putrajaya tomorrow.
“The AG (Abdul Gani Patail) is duty-bound to act on this report and what Malaysians, in particular Kugan’s family, want is that whoever is responsible for his death be brought to court and answer charges for murder,” he said.
According to Kapar MP S Manickavasagam, from the year 2000 to 2008, there have been more than 80 cases of reported deaths in police custody but nothing has been done to address this.
He also claimed that more than seven police officers are involved in Kugan’s case.
Another DAP leader present, Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo said the report should give the AG sufficient evidence to act swiftly on the matter.
He also said this incident shows the importance of having an independent post-mortem report done for custodial death cases.
The case was initially classified as sudden death but following the emergence of a video clip which revealed severe lacerations on the deceased’s body and sparked off public outrage, the AG reclassified the case as murder.
Other leaders present at the press conference were PAS Kota Raja MP Dr Siti Maria Mahmud, PKR secretary general Salahuddin Hashim and watchdog group Police Watch director S Jayathas.
