Victim's family says no to inquest, wants murder probe

The family of C Sugumaran, the victim of the recent death in custody case, has rejected the police’s offer of an inquest into the matter, calling for the arrests of those involved followed by a full murder investigation.

“The family of C Sugumaran absolutely rejects an inquest into Sugumar's death.

“Why call for an inquest when there is adequate evidence to bring a criminal prosecution for murder?

“In this case there are eyewitnesses who have come forward to say that Sugumaran was chased down, handcuffed, smeared with turmeric and beaten to death by police personnel,” said the family’s lawyers N Surendran and Latheefa Koya.

Instead, said the duo in a statement today, the family wants the arrest, investigation and prosecution of all police personnel involved on murder charges under section 302 of the Penal Code.
“An inquest under section 328 of the Criminal Procedure Code is only necessary where there is serious doubt as to the cause of death... the calling of a mere inquest is inconsistent with the available evidence,” they said.

The two lawyers, who are also PKR leaders, also pointed out that inquests are often made only to appease public outrage following cases of abuse and deaths in custody, such as the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock.

“Unlike in some other Commonwealth countries, the coroner in Malaysia is not empowered to conduct his own investigations and must rely on the tainted and biased police investigation,” they said.

They vowed to hold a protest at the police headquarters in Bukit Aman tomorrow morning to pressure for a second post-mortem and murder investigation.