SHAH ALAM – The Selangor Police will focus on aspects of negligence and violation of protocol by the personnel conducting an investigation following the death of a detainee at the South Klang district police headquarters yesterday.
Selangor police chief Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed, who confirmed the incident, said the case had been taken over by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from the Selangor contingent and the probe into the investigating officer was carried out under Section 223 of the Penal Code for negligence in handling a person under custody.
He said the investigating officer with the rank of sergeant had been transferred immediately, and further action would be taken against him based on the results of the investigation.
“A sudden death report (SDR) was also opened in line with our objective to determine the cause of death and the inspection at the scene was carried out by the CID team from the Selangor police headquarters,” he said in a press conference today.
Arjunaidi said in the incident at 1.50pm yesterday, a 36-year-old local man who was a detainee at the South Klang district police station, died after jumping from the second floor of the building while under remand for questioning over the alleged theft of gas cylinders.
He said the detainee had tried to escape while heading back to the lockup after recording his statement at the investigating officer’s office, where the suspect pushed the personnel and jumped out through an open window on the second floor.
“The detainee fell on the outside of the concrete divider between the first and second floors before falling on a motorcycle in the parking area. This caused cracks on the skull and face of the detainee,” he said, adding that the autopsy would be performed at the Tengku Ampuan Hospital Rahimah in Klang.
Meanwhile, commenting on criticism from domestic and foreign NGOs over police questioning journalists for reporting about the death of police detainee A. Ganapathy, he said no one was above the law.
He said that when the police receive a report from an individual, they will investigate the report regardless of the background of the person involved.
“We do (investigations) to ensure justice to all parties so if there is a matter arising under any circumstances, it is our responsibility to interrogate (if there is a report made),” he said.
Commenting on the number of compounds issued by the Selangor police during the total lockdown so far, Arjunaidi said a total of 487 compounds had been issued by his party for various offences from Tuesday until yesterday. – Bernama, June 4, 2021
