Explain delay in action over Durian Tunggal shooting case, Gobind tells AG

 The DAP national chairman and digital minister says he will also raise the matter at a Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

Digital minister Gobind Singh Deo said the fact that police had determined that the threshold for a murder investigation had been met indicated there was evidence requiring urgent court action. (Facebook pic)

PETALING JAYA:

DAP national chairman Gobind Singh Deo has called on Attorney-General Dusuki Mokhtar to explain the delay in taking action against those responsible for the fatal police shooting of three men in Durian Tunggal, Melaka, last November.

He said the delay was “highly questionable”, given that the case had been reclassified as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code in December.

“Police do not reclassify cases, especially in serious capital offences such as homicide, unless there is a solid evidential basis to do so.

“The fact that the enforcement agency itself determined that the threshold for a murder investigation had been met indicates that there is evidence requiring urgent court action,” he said in a statement today.

Gobind’s call comes after two lawyers representing the families of the three men reiterated calls for police officers involved in the case to be investigated and charged with murder if sufficient evidence is available.

In a joint statement earlier today, Rajesh Nagarajan and Sachpreetraj Singh also called for an independent body to investigate the shooting, saying the police could not investigate themselves.

In the Nov 24 incident, three men aged between 24 and 29 were shot dead after one of them allegedly attacked a police officer with a parang.

Investigations were initially opened under Section 307 of the Penal Code for attempted murder. However, in December, the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) directed that the case be reclassified as murder.

Last week, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said in a parliamentary reply that the AGC was still reviewing the investigation papers on the shooting case, more than a month after they had been resubmitted for the fourth time.

Gobind, who is also the digital minister, said he would raise the matter personally at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow.

“Any delay in prosecution can impact the quality of evidence. As time passes, witness recollections fade, physical evidence can degrade and procedural gaps emerge.

“These delays create unnecessary vulnerabilities that are highly detrimental to the case. The AG, as a custodian of justice, is duty-bound to act swiftly and decisively where the evidence points to a criminal offence,” he said. - FMT