After meeting the late S Sivabalan’s grieving family, Klang lawmaker Charles Santiago has highlighted three details that he said warranted an inquest into the custodial death.
Security guard Sivabalan died about 70 minutes after he was arrested by Gombak police on Thursday (May 20).
The official cause of death was an “acute myocardial infarction”, or a heart attack.
According to his death certificate, which Malaysiakini sighted, the 43-year-old was pronounced dead at 12.30pm, with Hospital Selayang listed as his “place of death”.
This contradicts Selangor police chief Arjunaidi Mohamed’s statement that he died at the Gombak district police station.
Delayed call, arrest
According to Charles, the police had contacted Sivabalan’s sister on May 20 after his official time of death and said he was hospitalised.
“The sister got a call at 3pm saying ‘your brother is very very sick, please go to Hospital Selayang’.
“When they went to Hospital Selayang and asked the counter, there was no registration under this guy’s (Sivabalan) name,” he said when contacted after paying a visit to the family this morning.
The third discrepancy was how police arrested Sivabalan allegedly over a police report that was lodged at least five years ago.
“Why wait for so long to do an investigation?” asked the DAP politician.
Malaysiakini has contacted Arjunaidi for comment.
Expedite inquest
Sivabalan’s death comes amid public outcry over A Ganapathy, who was hospitalised and later died after he was arrested.
Both Ganapathy and Sivabalan were detained at the Gombak district police station.
Selangor police stressed that an autopsy found no “physical injuries” on Sivabalan’s body.
They have classified his case as a “sudden death” and investigations are ongoing. They said they will propose that an inquest be held.
Charles reiterated his call for an inquest to be expedited to ensure all evidence could be preserved in their original form.
He also proposed that proceedings be led by the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) and the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) for more oversight.
“The inspector-general of police (Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani) has to make the appointment early so that the CCTVs, documents, SMS, phone calls and all of that can be kept somewhere separate before the investigation takes place.
“This is really important because if we go with the traditional route, we will never see justice,” he said.
Simpang Pulai assemblyperson Tan Kar Hing also called for an inquest not only into Sivabalan’s death but also Ganapathy’s.
The PKR politician further urged the police to stop investigating elected representatives and the media for raising issues about deaths in police custody.
“The police should understand that society has the right to ask about controversial deaths in custody, what more the media and people’s representatives who are carrying out their responsibilities in reporting these incidents and seeking justice,” Tan said in a statement.
Police are investigating Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and two of Malaysiakini’s journalists over the Ganapathy case.
Gombak police chief Arifai Tarawe has threatened to sue Free Malaysia Today for RM10 million after the news portal appeared to link his upcoming transfer to the Ganapathy case. - Mkini
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