PETALING JAYA, 29 May: PKR Vice-President, N Surendran claims that the establishment of the social investigation panel to investigate the death of N Dharmendran, 32, will not solve the case of the custodial death.
He was commenting of the statement yesterday by the Inspector-General of the Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar, who will lead the special investigation panel for the case.
“This investigation panel is useless, I reject the establishment of this inquiry panel to resolve Dharmenndran’s death which happened on 21 May,” he said.
He explained that this investigation panel would not be beneficial other than recycling ideas and concepts which were practiced after A Kugan’s death such as the installation of CCTVs and to provide the services of a doctor.
Kugan, 22, died when he was in police custody at the USJ8 Police Station in Subang Jaya in January 2009.
“After Kugan’s death, the police installed CCTV cameras and other methods to ensure custodial death does not happen again.
“This was done three to four years ago, as for Dharmendran’s case, they (police) came back with the previous method proposed by the investigation panel. This is an attempt to deceive the people of this country, the method is the same and is recycled,” he stressed.
According to Surendran, Khalid is not qualified to lead the inquiry panel because he failed to provide solutions to a number of related cases during his tenure as the Selangor Police Chief several years ago.
“Khalid was the Selangor Police Chief during Kugan’s death, where he issud untrue statements about A Kugan’s death,” explained the Padang Serai Member of Parliament.
In the meantime, Khalid was also involved in handling the death case of Aminul Rashid Amzah who was shot by the police in Shah Alam in April 2010.
Surendran said that the best way to deal with the case is by creating an Independent Complaints and Police Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) and decisive action from the Federal Government.
However, Home Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi refrained from commenting on the issue and redirected to the health issue allegedly suffered by the deceased.
Until now, the police are still carrying out investigations or taking any action against the policemen involved despite the the fact that the port-mortem from a specialist confirmed that Dharmendran was beaten to death by a blunt object while in police custody.
Dharmendran was detained by the police on 11 May after he lodged a police report at the Pudu Police Station about his involvement in a fight and he was remanded by the police at the Kuala Lumpur Contingent Police Headquarters.
However, the deceased should have been released on bail on 22 May but according to his wife, M Menikahlah, 26, she was contacted by the police and was informed that her husband died on his way to the hospital and asked her to go to the hospital to identify the body.