The Ipoh High Court granted the police two months to obtain information on M Indira Gandhi's ex-husband, Riduan Abdullah.
Judge Norsharidah Awang fixed June 25 for the next hearing in the ongoing judicial monitoring proceedings to update the court on the progress of enforcing an arrest warrant against Riduan.
“Make sure there are answers to the issues raised by then," The Star quoted her as saying during the hearing today.
The proceedings were initiated in 2020 to compel the police to appear in court and provide quarterly updates on their progress in locating Riduan, as well as Indira’s youngest daughter, Prasana Diksa, who will turn 18 on April 8.
Once she turns 18, Prasana will legally be an adult, meaning that Indira (above) will not be able to use the Child Act 2001 to compel the authorities to reunite her with her daughter.
Riduan forcibly took Prasana from Indira on March 31, 2009, when the girl was 11 months old and still nursing.
‘Unreliable recordings’
During the hearing, federal counsel Safiyyah Omar informed the court that investigations had included forensic examination of CCTV footage and financial activity linked to Riduan prior to his conversion.
However, she said the CCTV recordings - such as those allegedly showing him refuelling petrol - were of little evidential value because critical details like facial features, vehicle plates, and other identifiers could not be determined.
She added that police inquiries with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) were unsuccessful, as the agency declined to release the requested financial data, citing confidentiality rules.
This was confirmed by an officer from the Perak police headquarters' Criminal Investigation Department, Yap Siew Cheng, who said that EPF pointed to statutory limitations against releasing the data.
Yap said EPF stood firm in the face of formal requests partnered with a court order and that the agency had asserted such information could not be released without the account holder's consent - even to law enforcement.
Safiyyah added that there were no records of medical treatment linked to Riduan in Kelantan, based on information from the state Health Department.
‘Inconsistent submissions’
Indira’s lawyer, Rajesh Nagarajan, challenged the reliability of the police’s latest affidavit, noting inconsistencies with earlier submissions.
He pointed out that while previous filings mentioned multiple refuelling incidents, the latest version referred to only one, dated Oct 24, 2025.
Yap explained that this was because although nine fuel purchases were identified, only one transaction was backed by verifiable data.
“Checks conducted at relevant premises showed that most CCTV records had already been automatically deleted after a retention period of between two weeks and one month, leaving only one station with retrievable footage.
“Applications have been made to the Finance Ministry for transaction records, but responses had yet to be received at the time of the hearing.
“Two vehicles were registered under his name, but both had expired road tax,” she said.
Rajesh further highlighted conflicting timestamps, with earlier records stating 12:57pm while the latest affidavit showed 1:34pm.
“It is unreasonable for the police to claim they were unable to obtain information concerning the EPF records.
“The individual in question is under the police wanted list but is living a normal life, owning two cars, receiving traffic summonses, making EPF withdrawals, and appears to have used the RM100 Sara (Rahmah Necessities Aid) aid and Budi95 targeted fuel subsidy.
“There are no restrictions or pressure from the police, and we are confident that the police have not been searching for him,” he added.
‘Full of injustice’
Later, outside the court, Indira expressed her disappointment over the case while speaking about her hope to reunite with her daughter after being apart for years.
“My daughter is turning 18, my legal rights as a mother would be significantly limited," she lamented, labelling the situation as full of injustice.
In October last year, Riduan was detected to still be in the country, after utilising his Budi95 subsidy at eight different locations.
Indira’s 17-year struggle began in 2009 when her ex-husband unilaterally converted their children to Islam, abducted Prasana, and disappeared.
The Ipoh High Court overturned the conversion of the three minors in 2013, ruling it violated natural justice since Indira’s consent was not obtained.
The court also granted her full custody.
In 2018, the Federal Court also ordered the inspector-general of police to arrest Riduan for defying the High Court’s directive to return their youngest daughter to her mother - a mandate which remains unfulfilled. - Mkini
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