Sujatha Suicide: Coroner To Deliver Finding In Sujatha Inquest On Sept 29

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 (Bernama) -- The coroner's court on Thursday fixed Sept 29 to deliver its finding in the inquest into the death of actress K. Sujatha allegedly of paraquat ingestion.

Coroner Mohd Faizi Che Abu fixed the date after hearing submissions.

Counsel Datuk K. Kumaraendran, representing Maika Holdings CEO S. Vell Paari, submitted that there was no third party involvement in Sujatha's death and that strong circumstantial evidence showed that she died due to paraquat ingestion.

Counsel Datuk K. Kumaraendran, representing Maika Holdings CEO S. Vell Paari, submitted that there was no third party involvement in Sujatha's death and that strong circumstantial evidence showed that she died due to paraquat ingestion.

He said the only verdict the court could arrive at based on the testimonies of the 24 deponents during the inquest was that Sujatha had committed suicide.

Kumaraendran said that though there was no direct evidence that Sujatha had committed suicide, the coroner could arrive at the conclusion based on circumstantial evidence that the actress had taken her own life by consuming the weed killer.

He said the only person who came close on the issue of "third party involvement" was Sujatha's employer, Vell Paari, whereby she had worked for him as a personal assistant.

"They had a close employer-employee relationship where he even bought her a condominium unit and used to bring her out for dinner, but that is not an issue before this court where the main task of this inquest is to find out the cause of her death.

"Even her brothers were aware of this relationship and Sujatha's father himself testified that there was no foul play in her daughter's death," he pointed out.

On the issue of why Sujatha was not rushed to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH), which was much closer compared to the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (TARH) in Klang, Kumaraendran said Dr S. P. Saktiveloo of the Klang hospital was a cousin of Vell Paari and at that time both of them strongly believed that Sujatha could receive better treatment at that hospital.

He said Dr Saktiveloo had convinced Vell Paari that he could bypass the "red-tape" normally present in government hospitals.

"The issue here is not which hospital she was admitted to but the treatment she received, where she was treated by at least seven specialists at TARH," Kumaraendran said.

The inquest is to determine the cause of death of 28-year-old Sujatha at TARH on June 25, 2007, six days after being admitted for allegedly drinking weed killer.

On the issue of foul play, Kumaraendran submitted that Sujatha would have complained to other doctors who had treated her or friends who had visited her while being at the hospital for nearly five days.

"Sujatha had admitted to Vell Paari, Dr Saktiveloo and her brothers that she had unknowingly consumed the poison, where a bottle of paraquat was found in her room," contended Kumaraendran.

Moreover, medical findings by Dr Saktiveloo and other specialists were that Sujatha had suffered multiple organ failure consistent with paraquat poisoning, he stressed.

On the post-mortem issue, Kumaraendran said it was Sujatha's brother K. Surenthiran who had requested the hospital not to conduct the post-mortem since the cause of death had already been confirmed by the doctor who issued the death certificate and burial permit.

Meanwhile, co-counsel Datuk C. Vijaya Kumar said there was no iota of evidence that there was a third party at the condominium unit when Sujatha consumed the weed killer.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Geethan Ram Vincent, who is assisting the coroner in the inquest, submitted that the court should take into consideration several issues before arriving at the verdict.

He said Sujatha was confirmed to have died of paraquat ingestion. Vell Paari was her employer who had bought her a condominium worth RM420,000 besides supporting her two brothers in pursuing their tertiary education, he added.

Geethan Ram said Vell Paari was the first person to rush to the condominium to check on Sujatha's condition before he and Dr Saktiveloo decided to admit her at TARH which was 42 km away compared with KLH which was 3.5 km away.

"The testimony of Vell Paari and Dr Saktiveloo that Sujatha never disclosed to them why she took paraquat is difficult to believe," he said.

He said the court should also take into consideration that Vell Paari had issued a press statement that Sujatha passed away due to ovarian cancer.

Geethan Ram said it was highly improbable that Sujatha had unknowingly consumed paraquat since experts had testified that the weed killer had a pungent smell for someone to drink directly from the bottle.

He concluded his submission by informing the court that so far there had been no explanation or reason why Sujatha drank the weed killer.