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The police will record the statements of two deputy ministers over
Tuesday night's incident where some 50 people
barged into the Serdang Hospital mortuary where
the body of 22-year-old Kugan Ananthan who died in police custody
was being kept.
It was reported that Deputy Ministers in the Prime Minister's
Department T Murugiah and SK Devamany were present at the morgue.
 When
contacted, Murugiah (centre in photo) said that Kugan's
family members had already entered the morgue by the time he arrived
there.
"I got a call from the victim's family member at nearly 11pm and I
rushed to the hospital... by the time I got there the family members
had already rushed into the morgue," he said.
"The reason I went there was to calm the situation as some of them
were frantic after looking at the injuries on his (Kugan) body."
Murugiah added that he also felt intimidated when members of the
victim's family began shouting at him, blaming the government as
well the police force for Kugan's death.
He said that he went to the hospital in his capacity as the chief of
Public Complaints Bureau after receiving the call that night.
"I even called the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Musa Hassan and
he promised that he would investigate the matter and assist the
family," Murugiah said.
 He
also said that he was ready to cooperate with the police on their
investigation.
Devamany: I'll cooperate too
Devamany also said
that he went to the morgue to "help the situation" after receiving
calls from MIC Youth leaders.
"I went there to see how I can help the situation... these are poor
people and they are not empowered enough to tackle this by
themselves," he told Malaysiakini.
Devamany said although the family members were distraught yet they
listened patiently to explanation from the hospital's director on
the post-mortem.
"The director assured that they would act fairly and would present
the facts accurately," said Devamany, who is currently in his
constituency Cameron Highlands to deal with a landslide problem in a
Hindu cemetery there.
Asked on the police probe on him for allegedly barging into the
morgue, the MIC treasurer said that he was willing to cooperate with
the police "as long as justice is served".
Selangor police chief
Khalid Abu Bakar was reported today as saying that the post-mortem
results showed that Kugan died because of 'liquid in his lungs'.
The youth collapsed and died at the Taipan police station in USJ,
Subang Jaya on Tuesday. He was arrested on Jan 15 in connection with
several car theft cases. He was cremated today.
Get independent medical report
Meanwhile, MIC Youth advisor S Vell Paari said the movement will do
its utmost to help Kugan's family.
He has informed Youth chief T Mohan to seek a second medical opinion
on the cause of death.
 "We
should not just rely on the hospital post-mortem," he told
Malaysiakini.
Vell Paari said the second independent medical report would help
indentify the true cause of Kugan's death.
"We talk and fight for the Palestine and Sri Lankan causes but
similar atrocities are committed right under our noses. This has to
stop and the cowards who caused the death of Kugan must be charged
with murder," he said.
Vell Paari also said that the party's youth wing will work to set up
a committee to monitor the welfare of all Indians under police
custody.
"This will also avoid this sort of abuse and murder in the future,"
he added.
The disturbing statistics and link
In a related matter, DAP's Klang member of parliament Charles
Santiago lambasted the Selangor police chief for trying to protect
his officers and claiming that Kugan had died of breathing
difficulties.
 "I
watched the video recording of Kugan taken at the mortuary. The
footage revealed severe marks on his body, deep cuts on his wrists
and bruises on his legs. Blood was oozing from his nose," he said in
a statement.
"Kugan was held under a two-week remand to facilitate police
investigations linking him to several car theft cases. The job of
the police is clearly to find enough evidence to charge him in
court. It was not to beat him to death," he added.
Santiago said this was not the first case of incidents of police
detainees being abused or of custodial deaths.
He added that statistics revealed in Parliament last year showed
that there were a total 1,535 custodial deaths in the country
between 2003 and 2007.
"However, the lack of action by the government to punish errant
police officers only goes to show the disturbingly close link
between the government and the force," he said.
 The
MP said the "audacity and blatant disregard for the law displayed by
the police force" has to stop.
He stressed that a through probe must be done on the Kugan incident
and serious action must be taken against the police officers
involved.
"Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must also issue a serious
warning to the police force to stop abusing its powers to prevent
custodial deaths in the future," Santiago said.
Nalla: What caused the scars?
The same matter was also raised by Malaysian Indian United Party
president KS Nallakaruppan, who said that the police must come clean
on the matter.
"This is the second incident in a short period of time. First we had
the case of car park attendant B Prabakar and now this," he told
Malaysiakini.
The Prabakar-case involved police personnel allegedly abusing and
pouring hot water on the man while being questioned in police
custody. He was picked up to assist in the investigation into a
robbery.
Subsequently seven police personnel were charged with voluntarily
causing hurt to Prabakar and 18-year-old C Solomon Raj to make them
confess to a criminal intimidation case.
 Nallakaruppan
said that the police must similarly show accountability and
transparency in the Kugan matter and bring the wrongdoers to
justice.
"The police must reveal on how Kugan had so many scars on his body.
Why were there deep cuts in his wrists?
"And they must also explain on how the interrogation was done on him
and by whom it was done," he said.
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