NGOs seek justice over political aide’s murder

K Vasantha Kumar, who contested in Tapah, wants answers over the murder of his aide K Murugan.

KUALA LUMPUR: A group of NGOs have urged the police to expedite investigations into the murder of political aide K Murugan’s during the 13th general election.

Led by PKR’s candidate for the Tapah parliament seat, K Vasantha Kumar, the group handed over a memorandum addressed to Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar.

Murugan, who was Vasantha Kumar’s aide, went missing on May 1. His remains were later discovered on May 5 in a pond in Bemban Industrial Park, Batu Gajah.

“His hands and legs were tied with wires and the post mortem revealed that Murugan had died of blunt force trauma to the head,” Vasantha Kumar told reporters.

“We believe that the murder was politically motivated as he was threatened by the supporters of MIC candidate M Saravanan,” he added.

Vasantha Kumar was accompanied by Murugan’s family lawyer M. Visvanathan and several other NGOs.

The memorandum demanded that the IGP form a special task force to investigate all political parties involved in the election campaign without fear and favour and to investigate the records in Murugan’s mobile phone.

According to Vasantha Kumar, Murugan was very helpful in organizing the election campaign in the rural and interior areas in Tapah.

Murugan had informed Vasantha Kumar that he had been receiving threatening calls from unknown persons, who warned him to stop campaigning or he would be killed.

“On May 1, Murugan arranged a ‘ceramah’ at his residential area in Bidor. After the talk, he was cleaning up the venue with his friends when he received a phone call. He left the venue and never returned.

“Murugan’s sister lodged a report with the Bidor police station when he failed to return home and was not reachable,” Vasantha Kumar explained.

Among the NGOs present this afternoon were Lawyers for Liberty, Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram), Amnesty International Malaysia, MIPAS and many others.

Vasantha Kumar had lodged a total of six police reports throughout the campaign period on threats received by his assistants.

On April 28, a group of PKR campaigners were assaulted by B Kalaivanar, who heads a BN-friendly NGO.

“Kalaivanar and his supporters tried to attack me within the police station’s compound,” claims Vasantha Kumar.

“I was threatened that I would be ‘finished off’ and [the assailants said] ‘we just finished one case, do you want another one?’” he added.

Vasantha Kumar lost the Tapah parliamentary seat to Saravanan by 7,927 votes.