Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya’s murder was premeditated while her three companions were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time.This is the theory police are working on after it was ascertained that the cosmetics millionaire met a lawyer in Banting to seek a refund of the deposit she had given him to buy a parcel of land in Penang.

The three other victims were Sosilawati’s lawyer, Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, CIMB Bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, and driver Kamarudin Shansudin, 44.

It was learnt that Sosilawati, 47, the founder of the Nouvelles Visages beauty line, had engaged the lawyer’s services to submit a tender for a piece of land in Bukit Jambul, Penang.

“However, the tender was unsuccessful and Sosilawati wanted her money back,
believed to amount to several million ringgit,” a source said.

It was believed that the lawyer, said to be a 41-year-old Datuk, then arranged to meet Sosilawati at his office in Banting on Aug 30, purportedly to return the money.

Sosilawati turned up with her business associates which surprised the lawyer as he thought she would come alone.

He then invited the group to a meeting at his poultry farm as his law firm had closed for the day.

It was learnt that the four victims were murdered on the same day. They had their throats slit.

It was also learnt that police recovered a knife, believed to have been used in the killings, last Sunday night after searching several streams near the poultry farm in Sungai Gadung, near Tanjung Sepat here. This followed
questioning of the suspects.

The remains of the four were said to have been burnt and the ashes scattered in several streams near the farm, owned by the lawyer.

While police were looking for Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and three others last week, a woman from India came quietly into the country and lodged a second missing person’s report on her husband.The woman, S. Usharani, 24, from Chennai, lodged the report at the Banting police station on Sept 8.

Her husband, millionaire Allal Kanthan Muthu Raja, 34, had been missing since January and was last known to be in the company of the two lawyers, currently being investigated for the murders of Sosilawati and her aides.
Speaking to the New Straits Times from Chennai yesterday, Usharani alleged that her husband was lured to Malaysia by the lawyers purportedly for an urgent business deal.

“They called him in Chennai on Jan 16 and he took a flight to Kuala Lumpur the next day.”

Usharani said her husband called her after arriving at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Jan 18 to inform her that he had arrived safely and was on his way to Banting with both lawyers.
“We know both the lawyer brothers. Their families had visited us in Chennai many times and we, too, had visited them in Banting,” said the woman.

Allal has various business ventures including jewellery shops, plantations, hotels and restaurants.

“My husband had been partners with the brothers for almost 10 years. So when they called on Jan 16 and asked him to bring along cash, he did not hesitate,” she said, adding that Allal had almost 18kg of jewellery and at least RM10,000 on him.

On Jan 19, however, Usharani tried calling her husband and he could not be reached. That was when her troubles started.

“I contacted the lawyers and they told me my husband was caught by police for attempting to smuggle drugs into the country,” she said.

She then contacted the Indian High Commission but they, too, could not get any information on him.

Two weeks later, Usharani started receiving telephone calls from two men who claimed they were police officers from Bukit Aman who could secure her husband’s release if she paid them RM1 million.

“They insisted I come personally with the money so that they would release my husband to me.

“Afraid, I contacted the lawyers and they advised me to pay the ‘police officers’ and to stop calling them.

“That was when I became suspicious and I came down to Malaysia. I went to Banting and lodged a missing person’s report. However, I did not meet the lawyers.”

In May, Allal’s younger brother, Kasiviswanathan, 31, came down and met the lawyers.

“They told him that my husband was still under arrest. They also advised him to return quickly to India, saying that the police would arrest him as well. They even returned my husband’s luggage to him,” she said.

Usharani kept silent for several months, hoping that her husband would return soon.

However, her fears of not seeing him again increased when she got news from a relative here that the lawyers were implicated in the quadruple murders.

“I returned to Malaysia on Sept 8 and lodged a second report at the Banting police station, hoping this time, police would take my complaint seriously. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed.”

Usharani, who married Allal in 2006, has a 3-year-old daughter.

On Sunday, police had revealed that the two lawyers were also linked to four other businessmen reported missing over the past year.

Allal was one of them while the three others were said to be local Indians.

For years, the small community in Banting had known the brothers as they were prominent figures.

They were always said to be involved in land transfers and other land deals.

Old-time residents said the brothers suddenly gained wealth.

They opened up a law firm in Banting, a medical clinic run by their youngest sister, a poultry farm and other businesses in the town,

The Datuk was said to have strong ties to influential businessmen locally and internationally.

Both brothers, however, were suspended by the Bar Council in March 2007 for a year over allegations of cheating their clients.

Both are married and have two children each.

Penang police are reopening unsolved murder cases in the state over the past few years, particularly those involving lawyers.State police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob said a special committee would relook those cases to see if there were any new developments.

He was commenting on unsolved cases of lawyers who were murdered in the state over the past few years.

On whether these cases could be linked to the murder of cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya, DCP Ayub said they were studying all possibilities.

On July 27 last year, four men cornered lawyer R. Thinakaran Raman, 37, outside a Hindu temple in Supreme Garden, Prai, before forcing him to drink a substance, believed to be detergent. He died a day later of acute renal failure.

Two weeks before his death, he was dragged out of a burning car on the Penang Bridge by passers-by and while resting against the concrete railings of the bridge, accidentally fell into the sea but survived after fishermen rescued him.

On Nov 6, 2007, senior civil lawyer Datuk S.P. Annamalai, 59, died of excessive loss of blood after he was stabbed with a long knife when he was walking to his car in Green Hall here.

His clerk S. Nalaaini, 22, said that the assailant fled on a motorcycle.

On March 2, 2000, lawyer Chew Sien Chee, 39, was shot twice in the neck by a hitman in Tingkat Betik 2, Taman Seri Jaya, Bukit Mertajam.

He had just entered his Mercedes Benz and was about to leave the house for work when the man approached him and fired three times at close range, hitting Chew twice.

He died without regaining consciousness.

On Oct 19, 1997, criminal lawyer S. Pathmanathan, 29, was found dead with nine stab wounds in the neck and back at his China Street office. He was believed to have been murdered the previous evening or night.

He was found with his hands tied behind his back with a metal chain and a padlock while his mouth was mask taped.

Triptipal Singh, 60, was shot in the back outside his house in Jalan Yeap Chor Ee on Oct 15, 1992. He died of heart complications on Nov 1.

Two men had walked up to him from behind and fired five shots at point-blank range. Three of the shots hit him.

The two lawyer brothers arrested in relation to the murder of cosmetics millionaire Da­tuk Sosilawati Lawiya and three others were disbarred by the Bar Council’s disciplinary board on Nov 5 last year.A Bar Council source said the duo however got a stay pending an ap­­peal against the board’s decision. “Their appeal in court has been scheduled for Oct 18,” said the source.

According to the source, the complaint against the brothers was that they had misrepresented themselves as advocates and solicitors in furnishing a false power of attorney in respect of the sale and purchase of a house in Banting.

Earlier, the council had suspended the two brothers from March 9, 2007 to March 30, 2008, over another property transaction.

It was also revealed yesterday that the Datuk had intentions of joining the MIC.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Mi­­nister’s Department Senator Datuk T. Murugiah said the lawyer told him so when they met at a Hari Raya community programme at Kampung Bukit Cheeding in Banting.

“He appeared to be a generous individual and I was invited to distribute hampers which he sponsored for the orang asli community there,” said Murugiah, who crossed over to the MIC from the PPP in July.

More from NST:

A luxury escapade in the guise of a poultry farm.This is how some residents in the vicinity described the three acres of “poultry farm” which comprised three blocks — an office, a clubhouse and a chalet — plus a betel leaf and livestock farms.

This was where Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and three others were believed to have been murdered before their bodies were burnt.

A resident staying nearby, identified as Kumar, 40, said the farm was surrounded by a high wall and was not accessible to outsiders.

He said the farm, with its buildings, was situated about 1km away from the main entrance.

“No one knows what happens inside. Even if someone screamed for help, nobody could hear them.”

He said the farm originally belonged to a man from Batu Caves, who sold it to the Datuk lawyer about 11/2 years ago.

Kumar said the Datuk, whose main hobby was livestock-breeding, used the farm for his business dealings. It was learnt that the Datuk took most of his clients to the farm.

Kumar, who has lived here all his life, said on Sunday that he noticed scores of policemen and media representatives at the entrance to the farm.

“Initially, I thought it was a film shoot. I was shocked when a friend later told me what was going on.

“There are about 45 families living nearby. We were shocked when we learnt that the missing people could have been murdered so close to us.”

from the Star:

Meanwhile, an acquaintance of the lawyer Datuk said the farm housed a chalet where several workers were hired to care for the animals.

“Several goats, two peacocks, a cow, jungle fowl, squirrels and a fox were kept at the far end of the farm.”

He said the lawyer used the farm to entertain friends who were treated to exotic meats, besides expensive liquor and beers.

We hope that more cases can be solved so that other families who are missing their loved ones can get some peace and move on with their lives. May their souls rest in peace.

As for the murderers, nothing less than the death penalty should be given.