Sujatha inquest reveals ever more suspicious details concerning her death

By Nathaniel Tan

While we keep the heat up on Altantuya, let’s not forget Sujatha. The inquest into her death which began yesterday raised some mind boggling alarm bells. Let’s go through the Star report:

The first day of the inquest into her mysterious death revealed that she had first called Vell Paari at about 6pm on June 19, 2007 to ask his permission to come to his house so he could sign a few documents and cheques.

When he said he would meet her the next day to sign the papers, Sujatha called again 15 minutes later but this time said she was unwell with stomach pain.

“She said she wanted to take the next day off,” said Vell Paari when questioned by deputy public prosecutor Geethan Ram Vincent at the magistrates court here.

He offered to drive her to the hospital but upon arrival at her condominium in Jalan Ipoh, Sujatha told him that she needed time to change and would call him when she was ready. Vell Paari then left the condominium to go to Odeon Cinema to check on some tickets he wanted to buy.

Samy Vellu’s son. Went to Odeon Cinema. To buy tickets for a movie.

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Yeah, not the most convincing story in the world.

The two phone calls do not quite fall into the category of “normal” I should think. Why would she ask for the day off with a second phone call only 15 minutes later? Got a stomach ache in that short space of time?

Also, if you were Samy Vellu’s son’s secretary, would you be asking your boss to come from his house to give you a ride to the hospital?

Why would she need to go to his house after working hours to get papers signed that obviously could have been signed the next day?

While on his way there, Sujatha’s brother Yugenthiran called his cell phone to inform him that Sujatha had drunk paraquat.

When Vell Paari contacted Sujatha, she kept repeating (in Tamil) “theriyaama kudichiten”, which meant she had unknowingly drunk something.

This of course, is the next glaring part. How does someone unknowingly drink paraquat? As a friend remarked: does it bear some striking resemblance to Coke perhaps?

To be honest, I don’t have any first hand experience with the poison, so I am open on this point to further enlightenment.

If Sujatha knew that Vell Paari was nearby, why did she call her brother to say that she had accidentally drank paraquat? And why would her brother then call Vell Paari?

Vell Paari went back to the condominium and contacted his cousin Dr S.P. Sakthiveloo, a doctor at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang where Sujatha was later brought in for treatment.

When he asked Dr Sakthiveloo which hospital she should be sent to, the latter said the best thing to do was to take her to a government hospital, as drinking poison was a legal issue and most private hospitals would not accept such cases.

Vell Paari then agreed with his suggestion to go to the hospital in Klang. After he picked up Sujatha and Dr Sakthiveloo, they arrived at the hospital at about 7.40pm.

When DPP Geethan pointed out that Hospital Kuala Lumpur was the medical centre closest to Sujatha’s home and it would have been faster to send her there, Vell Paari replied: “Yes, it would”.

DPP Geethan also asked why Vell Paari had not asked Dr Sakthiveloo to go directly to the hospital to save time, to which Vell Paari answered that the idea had not occurred to him as they were confused at that time.

And this of course, is the most alarming fact in a sea of alarming facts.

I think the question of why Sujatha was not brought to KL General Hospital, minutes away, and instead taken to Klang, a good hour’s drive at that time of day is damning enough.

Vell Paari picked up his doctor cousin first (wasting the extra time to pick him up, instead of having him drive himself), and drove the two to the hospital where said cousin worked instead of the hospital 5 minutes away.

Why did he need to pick the doctor cousin up first? Why did he need to bring her to a specific hospital, where it happens said doctor cousin worked, more than an hour out of their way, increasing the life threatening risk Sujatha faced with each passing second?

Altantuya. Sujatha. How many on Malaysian soil will suffer with the current brand of political families we now have?