Autopsy: Karuna died of liver complications

The 42-year-old lab technician who died in police custody sustained 49 injuries.

PETALING JAYA: Police detainee P Karuna Nithi’s death has been attributed to “fatty change in the liver” despite post mortem results showing that the deceased sustained a slew of injuries.

“Microscopic examination of the liver confirmed fatty change. Therefore, the cause of death has been determined as ‘fatty change of the liver,” said Seremban General Hospital’s forensic consultant Sharifah Safoorah.

“Is it my opinion that the injuries on the body were inadequate in itself to derectly cause death,” she added in the post mortem report, a copy of which was furnished to FMT.

Karuna, a 42-year-old lab technician, was initially arrested after his wife had made a police report on him with regard to domestic violence. When he pleaded guilty, he was remanded pending bail payment of RM4,000.

However, Karuna’s family received a call on June 1 from the police station saying that he had passed away.

According to a family member, the police had alleged that the deceased had died due to hypoglycemia and had even requested for alcohol during the duration of his detention.

PKR public complaints bureau director S Manikavasagam said that the family was not happy with the results of the post mortem as there were too many injuries to his body.

“The family is not satisfied, they think the police is trying to cover up what they did to Karuna.

“The family wants the police to investigate why there were so many injuries to his body despite his cause of death being something else,” he added.

Manikavasagam said that he would accompany the family to submit a memorandum to Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakartomorrow at Bukit Aman.

“We will be submitting a memorandum to the IGP tomorrow. We just want to know the truth, we hope the family will not be deprived of that right,” he said.

“Even if the injuries did not cause his death, I feel that the police has the onus to explain on how he obtained those injuries,” he added.

Manikavasagam also said they were disappointed that the Negeri Sembilan police chief Osman Salleh claimed there were no injuries on the deceased and he died of natural causes.

“They cannot tell blatant lies, especially to a family that has just lost one of its members. This is not fair,” he said.
“We are very disappointed that the police are giving false information to the family and public. Why can’t they just take responsibility for their actions?” he added.

The family had lodged a police report at the Seremban police station on June 14 to investigate the injuries on the deceased and the memorandum to investigate Osman’s statement would be submitted tomorrow morning.