EAIC wants charges on cops who lied to cover up detainee’s death

The Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) wants the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) to consider filing criminal charges against police personnel who were found to have fabricated false information in the lock-up diary involving death-in-custody victim N Dharmendran.

EAIC chairperson Yaacob Md Sam said this while presenting the report on the outcome of the public hearing into the death of Dharmendran, who died while in police custody on May 21, 2013.

The commission found that the last six entries in the D9 IPK Kuala Lumpur lock-up diary, written by the two lock-up sentries, to be false.

Some of the entries were written in an unusual manner by one of the sentries as they were written only two or three days after the death of the deceased, as opposed to while he was on duty.

The commission also found that entries 3150 to 3153 were jointly made up by senior officers of the police, comprising the deputy head of the criminal investigation of the Intelligence and Operations Department, the officer in-charge of D9 IPK Kuala Lumpur, the deputy officer in-charge of D9 IPK Kuala Lumpur and an officer of the D9 IPK Kuala Lumpur.

The commission also found that the above-mentioned police personnel had also instructed the two lock-up sentries to write false entries into the lock-up diary on the night Dharmendran died.

The commission also affirmed that Dharmendran’s death was a result of the use of physical force by the police.

EAIC said the use of physical force that had caused injuries and his subsequent death had violated the Inspector-General of Police’s Standing Order (IGSO) which prohibits the use of physical force against detainees during interrogations.

Apart from the 52 bruises found on the deceased, the post-mortem conducted had also confirmed that the two staples found embedded on the deceased’s ears were stapled while he was alive.