Families of three men killed in a Malacca police shooting submit key audio evidence as lawyers demand a proper murder investigation
KUALA LUMPUR: Families of three men shot dead during a police operation in Durian Tunggal, Malacca, on Nov 24 handed an audio recording to Bukit Aman yesterday to facilitate a probe into the deaths.
S. Kaleicelvi, mother of victims T. Pooneswaran, 24, and M. Puspanathan, 21, Poonesvaran’s widow A. Jaanu, and and M. Jeyasri, the widow of the third victim G.
Logeswaran, 29, arrived at the Bukit Aman Lake Gardens entrance at 10.30am before entering the compound 15 minutes later.
The recording, done by Jeyasri during a call with her husband on the night of the shooting, was received at 11.02am by Classified Crime Investigation Unit head Supt Ta Kah Loon on behalf of the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The move comes a day after theSun reported claims by activist Arun Dorasamy that a digital trail, including a shared live-location and phone data, placed the three men on the PLUS Highway about 5km before the Linggi exit, rather than inside a plantation as stated by police.
Speaking after the brief handover to Ta, lawyer N. Surendran – who is representing the families – said the audio recording was first reported to police earlier in the week but was only formally submitted yesterday.
“This audio was handed by Logeswaran’s wife Jeyasri to Supt Ta. What she (provided) is the full unedited audio recording of the incident that happened on the night of Nov 24 when these three men were shot dead by police.
“Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said on Friday that there will be a transparent investigation. But since the family lodged the police report on Wednesday saying they have an audio recording, there has been no response,” he said.
Lawyer and former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission chief Latheefa Koya, who was also present, addressed online claims labelling the victims as criminals.
“How do you know they are criminals? Was there an investigation? Were they charged? Were they brought to court? Since when do we allow the police to administer the death penalty?
“Police say the investigation is under Section 307, attempted murder. Section 307 is for attempted murder. By whom? These three men are dead.
“A case involving three deaths should be classified under Section 302, which deals with murder. This is basic procedure,” she said.
The families’ lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan said police should also obtain CCTV recordings from the PLUS Highway for a fair investigation.
“That should be part of what the police ought to do. So far, they have failed to even commence an investigation. It has been 72 hours. Remember, this investigation is being done by the families, not by the police,” he said.
Rajesh also cited information the families received from the unnamed pathologist who conducted the autopsies at the Malacca Hospital.
“For one of the victims, the bullet entered through the nose and stopped near the heart. The angle was top-down.
“The pathologist informed us this suggested the person was kneeling.
“These are scientific facts, and that is why we say it was execution-style,” he said.
Civil society representatives, including Arun Dorasamy, lawyer Mahajoth Singh and activist Syarul Ema Rena Abu Samah were also present in support of the families.
On Dec 3, CID director Datuk M. Kumar said the three men were shot after they allegedly attacked police officers with machetes, injuring two policemen.
Malacca CID initially opened an investigation under Section 307 of the Penal Code before Bukit Aman took over the case and formed a special task force to review the incident.
