Cops made fun of Balamurugan as he lay critically ill, hearing told

Police officers happily exchanged WhatsApp messages that included calling Balamurugan, who subsequently died, ‘keling’ and ‘give him Carlsberg’ hours after a court ordered that he be taken to hospital.

PUTRAJAYA: Messages in a police WhatsApp chat group show that police officers had not only made fun of S Balamurugan but had also used degrading words a few hours before he died.

The WhatsApp messages of the Klang Utara district police headquarters were revealed during a hearing conducted by the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission.

The messages were exchanged after the remand of the deceased was rejected, as he was unwell, on Feb 7 at the Klang Magistrates’ Court.

Some of the messages of the officers, read during the hearing, were “keling ini macam mana boss, macam nak mampus” (What should we do with this keling, he looks like he is going to die), “give him ketum”, “makan sirih” (give him betel leaves to chew), “use Cap Kapak on his eyes”, and “give him Carlsberg, confirm ok” .

Lawyer Eric Paulsen asked Klang Criminal Investigation Chief ASP Norsanizam Nordin if these messages were tolerated in the WhatsApp group.

“‘Keling (degatory term for South Indians in Malaysia) ini macam mana boss, macam nak mampus’, is this kind of message tolerated?

“Some of the messages had emojis of people laughing. He was sick. Was that a time to joke?” asked Paulsen.

Norsanizam replied that such messages were not tolerated.

He said he gave instructions the following day, during a meeting, not to exchange such messages in the WhatsApp group.

“I told them to keep messages serious and report on work.”

About two hours before these messages were exchanged, Balamurugan was in the Klang court where his remand was rejected and where the magistrate told the Klang Utara district police headquarters assistant investigation officer, who was with Balamurugan, to take him to hospital as he looked unwell.

However, Balamurugan was driven to the Klang Utara district police headquarters where he was placed again in a temporary lock up.

EAIC chairman Yaacob Md Sam asked Norsanizam why orders were given for the second arrest of Balamurugan despite a clear instruction from the court to take Balamurugan to hospital.

Norsanizam said the investigating officer of Balamurugan’s case was, in fact, given orders by the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) to take Balamurugan to hospital.

“Orders were already given. The IO was irresponsible,” he added.

However, Yaacob reminded him that there were also the degrading messages after the SIO gave orders to the IO to take Balamurugan to hospital.

Yaacob, who is heading the hearing, said Norsanizam should have intervened and told the IO to take Balamurugan to hospital.

Balamurugan died less than 12 hours after his remand was rejected. He was arrested on Feb 6 at Jalan Batu Belah, Klang, with two others – Tamilasan Karapiah and a juvenile called Ang.

So far 28 witness have been called to testify. The hearing continues tomorrow. -FMT