EAIC chairman chides investigating officer in Balamurugan case

PUTRAJAYA: The chairman of the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) chided the investigating officer handling the sudden death report of S. Balamurugan who died in police custody during the inquiry today.
EAIC chairman Datuk Yaacob Md Sam chided ASP Muhammad Khuzairi Abd Wahab, the last witness to take the stand, when the inquiry was shown Whatsapp messages that Muhammad Khuzairi had sent after Balamurugan's remand was denied.
"OKT ni banyak kes di Klang Utara. OKT ni mastermind semua kes samun. (This detainee has a lot of cases in Klang Utara. He is the mastermind in all robbery cases)," read the message sent by him to the Whatsapp work group for IPD Klang Utara, JSJ Command at 6.05pm on Feb 7.
"This shows that you were already involved in Balamurugan's case before his death. Investigating Officer of sudden death report should be independent. If there was no one who can be independent of that station, an investigating officer from another IPD can be assigned. Why didn't you notify your superiors of this conflict of interest," Yaacob said to Khuzairi.
When asked if his superiors were aware of this fact now, Khuzairi did not answer immediately.
"I was afraid and just followed orders," he said.
Meanwhile, SAC Yusoff Mamat who was the OCPD of IPD Klang Utara at the time of Balamurugan's death, was asked on the procedures of rearresting a detainee after their remand is denied.
"Shouldn't the detainee be released immediately after the court rejected his remand? How long does the police have to prepare the necessary documents to rearrest an accused after his remand was denied by the court? Shouldn't it be ready as soon as it is decided that he is to be rearrested," Bar Council's Sivaraj Retinasekharan asked.
"We have a whole day, 24 hours to prepare the necessary documentation," Yusoff answered.
He said the police can wait until even "23 hours" to get the papers.
"In Balamurugan's case the rearrest documents were never done because the accused died," he explained.
Yusoff also admitted that his subordinates had violated his orders in Balamurugan's case.
He said that there was an instruction on Feb 7 to take Balamurugan for treatment but it was disregarded.
The public inquiry concluded today after hearing testimonies from 47 witnesses out of the initial 55 that was to be called.
The chairman said 55 was only by estimation and there was no need to call witnesses to repeat the same evidence.
Balamurugan was arrested with K. Tamilasan and a juvenile suspect by the Klang Utara district police motorcycle patrol unit on Feb 6 as the vehicle they were in at that time was suspected to have been used in a robbery.
He died in the wee hours of Feb 8, after the Klang Magistrate Court rejected an application to remand him and ordered for him to be taken for medical treatment.