Shooting at contractor's house may be politically moltivated

SUNGAI SIPUT - A trip to the clinic probably saved contractor R. Murugan's life. Unidentified gunman fired several shots at his double-storey house at Taman Jalong here at 10.30pm on Monday. The bullets hit Murugan's car and sliding door.

Murugan, who is Sungai Siput Barisan Nasional coordinator R. Ganesan's younger brother, said Ganesan had picked him up from his house about 10am to see a doctor.

"I may have been killed if I was around," he said when met at his house here yesterday.

Murugan, 41, said at the time of the incident, his wife, M. Puvaneswary, 30, mother, M. Mariammam, 67, and daughter, Elamathin, 5, were at home.

Speculating that the attack may have been politically motivated, Murugan said his house was splashed with paint and his car windscreen got smashed with a brick early this month.

"Whatever they do, it will not deter me from continuing to serve the people," said the division head of the non-governmental organisation Persatuan Kemajuan dan Perpaduan Rakyat Perak.

The police's forensic unit removed five bullet slugs from his house, said Murugan.

Puvaneswary said when the shots were fired, she had thought children were playing with firecrackers.

"But when I took a peek from the window of my room, I saw a motorcycle riding away."

She, however, could not determine how many persons were on the motorcycle.

"The gunman might have thought my husband was at home as his car was parked in the porch. Unknown to them, he had gone out to the clinic," she said.

Sungai Siput police chief Superintendent Azman Salim confirmed the incident.

"We are investigating the matter," he said, adding the case had been classified under the Firearms Act (Heavier Penalties) 1971.

-New Straits Times