Extortion: Police urge death-in-custody kin to help probe

Police will investigate the claim that personnel from the Cheras district police headquarters had demanded RM300 from the wife of P Chandran prior to his death in their custody, Cheras OCPD Mohan Singh said today.

"We are investigating the matter to verify if the claim is true, and we invite the family to come forward to help identify those they allege made the demand," Mohan said when contacted.

Of the three police reports lodged on Chandran's death and the circumstances surrounding it, he said, only one was lodged in the Cheras police district, at the Pudu police station.

The other two, lodged by the deceased's brother P Gunalan, were made in Simpang Renggam, Johor, and were about incidents that took place under the jurisdiction of the Dang Wangi police district.

"The Kuala Lumpur police will be investigating all claims," Mohan said when asked about the extortion claim stated in a police report lodged by Chandran's brother-in-law, R Rajan Naidu.

In his report, Rajan said Chandran's widow N Selvi told him that police personnel had asked her for RM300 when she sought information on Chandran, when he was still alive.

Police raised money for family

The other two reports were lodged by Gunalan claim that police negligence led to Chandran's death. Police claimed that Chandran died from heart disease and classified it as "sudden death".

The family insists that he was suffering from hypertension, and that police did not allow Selvi to see him and pass his medication to him, resulting in his death on Sept 10.

While the extortion claim will be investigated, Mohan said, he pointed out that Gunalan in one of his police reports acknowleged that police assisted the family in sending Chandran's remains to Simpang Renggam.

"They said they wanted to take the body home on the same day, so we arranged for everything. We even raised RM200 among us to help them as they said they had no money.

"It was a humanitarian act and I don't think there is anything wrong with that," Mohan added.

The family yesterday sent a memorandum to federal police chief Ismail Omar asking for Chandran's death to be investigated.

The have also engaged a lawyer to file a negligence suit against the police and government.

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Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/211520