‘Please let Pornthip conduct autopsy’

C Sugumar's family wants Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to decide within 48 hours on Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand's status.

PETALING JAYA: The family of deceased security guard C Sugumar wants Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to rescind the government’s alleged objection against having Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand conduct a second post-mortem.

In a letter to Najib, Sugumar’s uncle A Kuppusamy said the family wanted “justice and truth for Sugumar”.

“We would like you [Najib] to revoke the government’s objection and invite Pornthip to conduct a second autopsy on Sugumar.

“Our family is saddened by the fact that we are unable to conduct the funeral rites for Sugumar. We want justice and truth for Sugumar,” said the letter which was handed to the Prime Minister’s special officer, Saiful Azhar Shaharun, this morning in Putrajaya.

Kuppusamy said the family hoped Najib would reply to them within 48 hours.

The family had made a similar request on March 11 through their lawyers. That request, however, had no time-frame.

Sugumar died after being beaten by the police and a group of men on Jan 23.

The initial post-mortem conducted in Serdang Hospital concluded that he had died of a heart attack. The family, however, doubted this and had requested for Pornthip to conduct the post-mortem, although the Malaysian Medical Council’s regulations bars her from doing so since she is not registered with the council.

Pornthip, however, had supervised the second post-mortem on Teoh Beng Hock, a political aide of a Selangor executive councillor who died under mysterious circumstances while being investigated for alleged corruption in 2009.

Sugumar’s family is hoping that this would be a precedent and the government will allow for Pornthip’s presence here.