Kajang prison passes the buck to cops

Kajang prison authorities say that since the family have lodged a police report on the death of an inmate, they will leave it to the police.

PETALING JAYA: The Kajang prison authorities have passed the buck to the police on the death of an inmate at its facility.

Yesterday, the family of R Kumar Rajah, 27, alleged that he died in his cell on Oct 29, after the prison authorities failed to provide medical assistance for his stomach ache.

A prison spokesman said they have left it to the police to investigate as a police report has been lodged by the family.

“Comments on this case will be by the Prisons Department. We will leave it to them to comment and clarify the matter,” he said when contacted by FMT today.

The family with the assistance of Lawyers for Liberty want a post-mortem conducted on the inmate’s body, which is kept at the Kajang Hospital.

They have alleged that the prison authorities, police, the hospital and the magistrate, in charge of issuing a post-mortem order, were working to cover-up the cause of death.

Kajang district police headquarters meanwhile confirmed that a police report on the matter had been lodged by the family’s lawyers yesterday.

A police spokeswoman said the report contained their dissatisfaction against the hospital, police and the prison authorities.

“The report states that Kumar Rajah’s family and lawyer are unhappy with the hospital for refusing to do a post-mortem and the prison for alleged negligence and delay in informing the death of Kumar Rajah,” she said declining to comment further.

It is learnt that Kumar Rajah’s remains was still at the mortuary and up to 3.30 pm today no post mortem had been conducted.

Meanwhile, PKR’s S Jayathas notified FMT that the police have claimed that it has power to override the magistrate’s order not to carry out a post-morterm.

He said that the police would forward their investigation papers to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for further instructions.