Judge ticks off senior cop for putting interest of police before public

ARCHIVES 2012

By admin-s On Dec 17, 2012

(TMI) – Khalid had earlier indicated the possibility that Kugan’s body had been tampered with while in the custody of his family members, before it was sent for another autopsy.

A High Court judge berated Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar today for putting the interest of the police ahead of the public when he did not order an investigation into suspicions that the body of detainee A. Kugan had been tampered with before it was sent for a second post-mortem.

Datuk VT Singham, presiding over a RM100 million suit brought by Kugan’s mother, N. Indra, against Khalid, had asked the man who was in 2009 the Selangor police chief why he did not order an investigation or propose an inquest since there was a second post mortem report that conflicted with the first.

“So, your evidence is that all the injury on Kugan was caused by someone else? That’s your personal view. Why didn’t you allow an investigation?

“With respect, it seems you are thinking for the police when the public wanted to know (how Kugan really died). This is a very serious accusation,” Singham said.

Khalid had earlier indicated the possibility that Kugan’s body had been tampered with while in the custody of his family members, before it was sent for another autopsy.

The Selangor police chief reasoned to the court that this was why the police did not accept the findings of the second post-mortem by the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC).

“There could be something which happened to the body when it was returned to the family and during the funeral procession. We (police) did not follow the body during the procession or when it was with the family and we do not know.

“That is why the police did not comment on or announce the results of the second post-mortem,” he said.

Khalid concurred with Kugan’s family lawyer, R. Sivarasa, that the first post-mortem had found 22 injuries on the youth’s body but noted that the report had also concluded that the cause of death was “fluid in the lungs”.

He later agreed that this was the first time he was voicing the police’s belief at the time that Kugan’s body could have been tampered with, prompting Singham to berate him.