Colleague of slain Special Branch cop held

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 5, 2014): A police lance-corporal was arrested three hours after a 37-year-old federal police Special Branch personnel was found dead with gunshot wounds at Jalan Negeri Sembilan, Bukit Persekutuan on Tuesday.
The suspect, also 37, and the victim, Lance Corporal T.Thivakar (pix) were colleagues at the same unit of the Special Branch. He was arrested not far from the crime scene at about 7.30pm.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Senior DCP Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh said today that the suspect was remanded for five days to assist in investigations. He said the policeman’s service pistol and several documents in his possession were also seized.
Mohmad said investigations showed that Thivakar, a bachelor from Chemor, Perak, was unarmed when he was gunned down.
Thivakar, who lived in Puchong and had served in the police force for 16 years, was attached to an elite unit of the Special Branch. At 5.30pm on Tuesday, a passer-by spotted Thivakar’s body by a roadside and alerted the police.
The victim had died of two point-blank gunshot wounds to his face. The victim’s valuables were left intact with a motorcycle recovered at the scene belonged to another policeman.
It is believed that Thivakar had borrowed the motorcycle from a colleague and met the assailant at the spot a short distance from the Travers police station to discuss some issues.
The meeting is said to have turned ugly after several minutes and ended in the murder.
Sources said police are confident of solving the case by the end of the week.