‘Classify Sugumar’s death as murder’

The family members also said they will not claim the body till a second post-mortem is done .

PETALING JAYA: The family of the 40-year-old security guard, C Sugumar, wants his death to be classified as murder.

Lawyers N Surendran and Latheefa Koya who are acting for family said that all police officers implicated in the death be immediately suspended and arrested to facilitate investigations.

They also referred to the claim by Kajang police chief yesterday that police did not beat Sugumar and that he died of a heart attack.

Both Surendran and Latheefa said in a joint press statement:
“This is a blatant attempt by the police to cover up the case. According to Sugumar’s family, the security guard had a clean bill of health and no medical history of heart-related complications.

“Three eyewitnesses have come forward to testify that Sugumar was chased by police, handcuffed, beaten and smeared with tumeric powder.

“When we viewed the body in the mortuary, the deceased was still handcuffed and there was tumeric powder on his face.

“There were also lacerations consistent with a struggle against police assailants as described by the witnesses.”

Surendran claimed that the family members were only allowed to see the body upon the insistence of lawyers and activists, after four hours.

He also confirmed that the family will lodge complaints against the Serdang Hospital and its pathologists to the Malaysian Medical Council .

Surendran and Latheefa claimed that the Serdang Hospital has a history of falsifying post-mortem findings in favour of the police authorities.

They cited the A Kugan case, where the hospital falsely claimed that Kugan died of water in the lungs when in fact he was beaten to death in police custody.

“The Serdang Hospital pathologist Dr Abdul Karim Tajuddin was subsequently found guilty by the MMC of professional misconduct for falsifying post-mortem findings.” they said.

The lawyers also claimed that Sugumar’s family will not claim his body until the second post-mortem is carried out by the Serdang Hospital satisfactorily.