Ganapathy’s death: Police take statement from another Mkini journalist

 

Police have called in another Malaysiakini journalist to provide a statement regarding three articles related to the death of A Ganapathy that were published by the news portal.

The articles were about A Ganapathy (above), a 40-year-old cow’s milk trader who died while receiving treatment in a hospital after initially being detained by police in February.

Malaysiakini journalist, B Nantha Kumar gave his statement at the news portal’s office in Petaling Jaya this morning accompanied by lawyer Kee Hui Yee from the legal firm Kanesalingam & Co.

Nantha is the third Malaysiakini staff who has given a statement to the authorities regarding investigations into the case.

On May 18, Malaysiakini’s sub-editor Rusnizam Mahat and Aedi Asri Abdullah were called to provide their statements at the Bukit Aman police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

Today’s statement was taken by Inspector Shahrir Mohamad from Bukit Aman's Criminal Investigation Unit (USJT) and took about an hour.

It is understood that the case is being investigated under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for intent to cause fear or alarm to the public.

The articles being investigated contained quotes from Ganapathy’s family, his lawyer and a media statement by MIC.

The articles, which are in Bahasa Malaysia, are titled: 

• Peguam: Bedah siasat tunjuk Ganapathy mati akibat cedera teruk di kaki, bahu (Lawyer: Autopsy showed Ganapathy died from serious injuries on legs, shoulders), 
  
  
• Mangsa didakwa dipukul polis mati lepas lebih sebulan di ICU (Victim complained beaten by police died after a month in ICU) and 
  
  
• MIC tuntut siasatan bebas berhubung kematian Ganapathy (MIC demand independent investigation regarding Ganapathy’s death).

Ganapathy’s family lawyer, K Ganesh, told Malaysiakini that the family members have yet to be called in to provide a statement to the authorities.

MIC vice president C Sivarraajh also said he had yet to be called but added he was ready to cooperate with the police investigation.

Malaysiakini understands that the police report was made by the investigation officer who was handling the case of Ganapathy’s death.

On March 11, the deceased’s mother, S Thanaletchumy, 60, made a report at the Gombak district police headquarters regarding allegations of her son being beaten while in custody.

The deceased died at the Hospital Selayang in Kuala Lumpur on April 18.

On April 30, Gombak’s district police chief at the time, Arifai Tarawe, said in a press conference that initial investigations found Ganapathy had never made a complaint to the magistrate nor the attending medical officer that he was beaten by the police.

Arifai said the investigation was still ongoing and the investigation paper would be sent to the deputy public prosecutor’s office. - Mkini