Dead detainee´s family wants OCPD sacked

The family of P Babu, who was found dead in a police lockup, has demanded that the Jempol district police chief be sacked.

Babu's uncle M Mahadevan made the demand in a memorandum to Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan which was submitted to the at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur today.

Speaking to reporters later, Mahadevan said he had raised Babu after he was orphaned and holds the Jempol police chief responsible for his nephew's death.

“We will wait until another post-mortem is conducted. We will not claim the body from the mortuary until this is done,” said Mahadevan.

On Monday, Babu was found dead in the lockup after apparently hanging himself to death with his shirt.

Prior to this death, the sawmill worker turned himself in to assist a robbery investigation.

'Disclose CCTV footage'

Mahadevan was accompanied to Bukit Aman by about 20 members of NGO Alternative Action Team, led by its president B Kalaivanar.

Kalaivanar said the public deserves to know how Babu could have killed himself when the lockup is under CCTV surveillance.

“If Babu hanged himself, are the police prepared to reveal the video footage of the cell?” he said.

Kalaivanar notes that there has been 109 deaths in police custody since 2004 and no one has been held responsible for these deaths.

“I hope this incident will not be hushed up and added to the high number of fatalities involving Indian Malaysian detainees in police custody,” he said.

He warned that should the IGP fail to reply within 48 hours, his organisation will call for nationwide demonstrations

MK
04/02/10

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