Man wants Police to probe son’s death in Kluang Prison

(Malaysian Digest) – A man today asked the police to carry out detailed investigation on the death of his son, R. Aruljothi, 24, who was said to have hanged himself while in custody at the Kluang Prison in January.

P.Regispran, 59, said until today he was not satisfied with the cause of his son’s death because his son had never complained of any problem since being detained at the prison in September 2008.

“The last time I met Aruljothi was on Dec 1, last year and my son told me that he would be released on Jan 25.

“However, my happiness turned into shock when I received a call from the prison at about 1am on Jan 9, informing me of Aruljothi’s death,” he told reporters at a meeting arranged by the Public Complaints Centre for the Permas Zone, here today. Also present was his wife, T.Annaputany.

Regispran, from Taman Sri Skudai, here, said Aruljothi was healthy and happy when he and his wife visited their youngest son out of six siblings for the last time, and this made it difficult for them to believe that he would hang himself.
  
He said that according to the police report, Aruljothi hanged himself at about 9.45pm on Jan 8.

Subsequently, Regispran said he had lodged a police report at the Skudai Police Station on Jan 19 to investigate the incident. However, the authorities had yet to give any feedback to date.

“I know my son was guilty of a robbery crime but I want justice on his death. What I am disputing is the way he had died,” said Regispran.

Meanwhile, the Supervisor of the Public Complaints Centre for the Permas Zone, Syed Othman Syed Abdullah said the centre had appointed a lawyer and would make a police report very soon to reopen investigation papers on the case.

“We will also assist Regispran to buy the post mortem report because he could not afford to buy the report due to financial problems,” he added.