Teoh inquest: Mystery male is one M. Gopala, says Dr Seah
(The Star) – 10:43am: Saravanan agrees with coroner that if auropsy table is not properly sterilised, DNA traces will remain. Cornore releases him from the stand.
10:40am: To a question from Malik, Saravanan sys he was involved in Teoh’s autopsy as the photographer on the orders of pathologist Dr Khairul Azman, senior consultant of forensices at the hospital and the 10th witness
10:30am: Gobind asks how the autopsy table is cleaned. Saravanan says that normally attendants clean the table with water and special chemicals.
10:25am: He says he conducted two post-mortems on July 17 at 8.30am on Gopala and Jeganathan. The two had died ofsevere head injuries due to a motor vehicle accident.
10:24am: 26th witness Dr K. Saravanan, 39, medical officer, formerly at Forensics Department, currently at Ear, Nose and Throat Department of Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, Klang, takes the stand.
10:21am: Coroner: Post-mortem conducted was conducted on Gopala before it was conducted on Teoh? Dr Seah: Yes. Dr Seah is released from the stand. It yest to be revealed who this Gopala is.
10:10am: In response to Gobind Singh’s query, Dr Seah confirms that one male DNA was identified as Gopala but the other DNA was still unknown.
10:05am: After tests, she says, one male was M. Gopala with 99.99% very high certainty. His DNA was found on Teoh’s blazer. Jeganathan’s DNA did not match the DNA found at the tear region of the waist belt worn by Teoh.
09:50am: Dr Seah says that she was asked to ‘test out’ two other bodies which were ready for post mortem. The bodies were tagged Gopala and Jeganathan.
09:47am: Inquest resumes. Ninth witness Dr Seah Lay Hong, a serology and DNA specialist takes the stand.
SHAH ALAM: Teoh Beng Hock’s inquest will continue today with the identity of one of the mystery male DNA samples lifted from Teoh’s belt and jacket being revealed Friday.
Tan Hock Chuan, the counsel appointed by the Government to assist coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas, said Thursday that DNA expert Dr Seah Lay Hong would reveal the identity of the man, tagged as Male 1 in the case.
Dr Seah, who is attached to the Chemistry Department, is scheduled to testify Friday.
The inquest had heard that the DNA of two unknown males found on Teoh’s clothing items did not match any of the 157 people sampled.
Teoh, 30, the political secretary to Selangor executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was summoned to the Selangor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office on the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam here on July 15 to be queried over alleged disbursement of state funds.
He was found dead at the building’s fifth floor service corridor the following day.
At the inquest Thursday, Teoh’s brother Meng Kee testified that Beng Hock did not have any health or financial problems after Gobind Singh Deo, who is holding a watching brief for his family, asked him if he had any reason to believe that his brother would would want to commit suicide.
Meanwhile, counsel holding a watching brief for the Selangor state government Malik Imtiaz Sarwar had said his party would be calling Selangor MACC deputy director Hishamuddin Hashim and head of investigation unit Hairul Ilham Hamzah to help in the inquest.
Malik Imtiaz had also added that renowned Thai pathologist Dr Porntip Rojanasunan was available to testify here on Oct 20 and 21 or 27 and 28.
