Fourth suspect charged with Dhamendran's murder

Inspector S Hare Krishnan today became the fourth police officer charged with the murder of N Dhamendran, who died in police custody on May 21.

Hare Krishnan, 40, was charged in the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate's Court, under Sections 302 and 34 of the Penal Code, which carry the mandatory death penalty upon convinction.
No plea was recorded.
Magistrate Nur A'minahtul Mardiah Md Nor said the mention date will be fixed upon availability of the post-mortem report, which is expected on Aug 2.

The accused was represented by S Kavita and N Kalyana Sundaram.

Hare Krishnan was charged less than 24 hours after surrendering to the police at the Dang Wangi police district headquarters yesterday morning.

The police have stated that he has been in hiding since June 15, a claim which the accused and his family have since rebutted.

Hare Krishnan has claimed innocence in Dhamendran’s death, alleging he is merely a scapegoat to “protect certain parties”.
Drama outside courtroom

Hare’s partner, Shaarmini Balakrishnan, broke into tears once she left the courtroom, but the drama did not stop there.
Dhamendran’s wife S Marry Mariay, who was present, started shouting at Hare’s lawyers for claiming that he was “never in hiding”.

Dhamendran’s lawyer Latheefa Koya was giving a press conference on Hare’s charge when G Sri Kumar, who is part of Hare’s defence team, intervened and asked Latheefa to stop referring to Hare as someone who was “in hiding”.

“He was not in hiding. So I would appreciate if you stop using that word,” he said.

This prompted Marry to raise her voice, demanding that Hare reveals the culprits behind her husband’s death, if Hare himself was not the culprit.

“They say he was never in hiding. So where was he all this while?” she asked emotionally.

She had to be calmed down by family-members as she walked away shortly after.

Latheefa had earlier questioned the reasoning behind the police not charging Hare along with the three other accused officers on June 5.

“If they can find the homes of 40-odd people who participate in a rally, they can’t find him?” she said, referring to police claim that Hare had been in hiding.

Jaffri Jaafar, Mohd Nahar Abd Rahman, and Mohd Haswadi Zamri Sahari were all charged with a similar offence on June 5.

The offence was allegedly committed between 12.20pm and 5.20pm at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters lock-up on May 21, 2013.

The Hospital Kuala Lumpur pathologist report on May 22 stated that Dhamendran died due to multiple blunt force trauma. His ears were also found to have been stapled.

The police had earlier said that Dhamendran died due to breathing difficulties.