‘My King, bring cops who killed my son to justice’
By Teoh El Sen, Free Malaysia Today
VIDEO INSIDE KUALA LUMPUR: On Jan 14 last year, 22-year-old A Kugan, from Puchong, was arrested to facilitate investigations into a luxury car theft syndicate. Six days later, he was dead.
Family members and opposition politicians who stormed the mortuary found Kugan’s body riddled with severe lacerations. A video clip of this was uploaded on the internet and sparked off national outrage.
However, the first mortem concluded that Kugan had died as a result of fluid accumulation in the lungs. Dissatisfied, the family commissioned a second post-mortem, which revealed that the deceased was burnt, beaten and starved during detention.
This morning, Kugan’s mother, made her way to the palace’s gates for the third time, to seek justice for her son.
After being turned away on the previous two ocassions, this time, N Indra, 42, managed to hand over a petition to a palace official.
‘The police took my son and killed him’
Unable to hold back her tears, Indra broke down when met by reporters.
“It has been nearly two years since my son died, but I still cannot get over him or sleep well. The police took my son and killed him. I want all of them charged, give justice for my son,” she said.
Following the exposure of the video-clip, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail had reclassified the case as murder, and it was also revealed that 11 policemen were reassigned to desk duties pending investigations.
But on Oct 1, Constable V Navindran, from the USJ police station, was charged with causing grevious hurt to Kugan. The case is ongoing.
Indra’s lawyer, N Surendran, who accompanied his client, said the family was disappointed that only one policemen was charged, and that too for a lesser offence.
“From the trial, we can see that others were involved, yet none of them have been charged. Kugan’s family and the public are unhappy that until today, no policeman has been charged with murder.
“This was the worst death in custody in this country, yet only one person is charged. The police appear not to have learnt their lesson,” he added.
