Kugan family lawyers claim he may have been poisoned


Protestors at Bukit Aman with a banner depicting pictures of Kugan.

PETALING JAYA, Oct 9 — A new twist into the death of A. Kugan, who died while in police custody, emerged today when lawyers representing his family told the magistrate's court they had evidence he may also have been poisoned.

N. Surendran, who is one of the family's three lawyers seeking the return of toxicology samples obtained from Kugan, told the court he had post-mortem pictures which a medical expert believes show an injection mark on Kugan's arm.

The toxicology samples were seized by the police on April 6 during a raid on the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) where a second post-mortem on Kugan was carried out on the insistence of his family.

Surendran argued that the return of the samples was vital because the family intends to send them for analysis in Australia to determine if Kugan was poisoned.

“His family wants the test to be conducted because they believe he died not only because of brutal beatings but from an injection of a substance into his body.”

The High Court last week ordered police to produce the toxicology samples before the magistrate today to determine if they should be returned to UMMC.

Kugan died on Jan 20 after five days in police custody. He had been arrested in connection with luxury car thefts.

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Following his death, 11 policemen from the Taipan USJ police station were transferred to desk duty but on Oct 1 only one constable, V. Navindran, was charged with causing grievous hurt to Kugan.

Surendran told the magistrate's court that the results of the second post-mortem, commissioned and paid for by Kugan’s mother, were provisional pending the outcome of the toxicology test.

He said the prosecution had already conducted its own test on the samples and there was no reason not to return them to UMMC.

“They cannot argue that they need the samples for the one individual who has been charged because the test results are in their hands.”

However, deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Azlina Rasdi argued that the samples should be kept by police because of the ongoing criminal case.

“There is a possibility the samples may be needed as exhibits during the trial.”

She said there was no guarantee that UMMC could keep the samples safe, adding that the prosecution needed to ensure there was no break in the chain of evidence.

This was disputed by Surendran who argued that UMMC was a teaching hospital which had taken the samples and was keeping them until the police seized them.

He said the pathologist involved could be called in at any time to help the prosecution during the trial while the court could order UMMC to bring the samples to court.

He said if the samples are not returned, the tests could not be carried out and the family would not be able to find out the truth.

Lawyer M. Manogaran also disputed the DPP's assertions that the samples should be safely kept at a police station.

In normal cases there would be nothing wrong, but in this case the family is alleging that Kugan was killed by the police and there lies the conflict of interest, he said

He added this was case of public interest because Kugan was killed in a police lockup in Subang Jaya.

“Justice must be seen to be done and the samples should be kept by an independent body.”

Manogaran, who is also Teluk Intan MP, pointed out that Kugan’s mother was not asking to take the samples home but for them to be returned to UMMC so further tests could be carried out.

Magistrate Ho Kwang Chin will deliver his decision, on whether the samples should be returned to UMMC, on Monday.
09/10/09

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