Kugan’s mother to take stand on Friday

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KUALA LUMPUR: The mother of A Kugan, the detainee who died in police custody, will take the stand at the High Court here on Friday in her RM100 million suit against Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and four others for alleged negligence and breach of statutory duty.

Justice Datuk V T Singham was informed yesterday that other than N Indra, 44, lawyer N Surendran would also be called as a key witness during the trial.

Plaintiff’s counsel, L Bani Prakash also informed the court that the plaintiff faced difficulty in serving a subpoena on forensic pathologist Dr Prashad Samberkar of University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) who carried out the second autopsy on Kugan’s body.

He said Dr Prashad’s contract had expired and he had returned to his country of origin, India, in early October.

However, the subpoena had been served on UMMC’s head of forensic department, Assoc Prof Dr Nazarina Abdul Rahman, he added.

Justice Singham told Bani Prakash that he should have been more proactive in recording Dr Prashad’s statement while he was in the country or sought the court’s assistance on the matter, since the pathologist’s testimony was crucial to the plaintiff’s case.

Meanwhile, Senior Federal Counsel, Azizan Md Arshad informed the court that other than Khalid, the defendants intended to call eight witnesses who were mainly prosecution witnesses in the criminal

trial of police constable V Navindran, who was found guilty of causing hurt to Kugan, three years ago.

On June 11 this year, the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court sentenced Navindran to three years in prison after finding him guilty of causing hurt to Kugan, a suspect in a luxury car theft case, in an interrogation room at the Taipan USJ, Subang Jaya police station on Jan 16, 2009.

On Jan 13, Indra as administrator of Kugan’s estate, named Khalid who was the Selangor police chief at the time, Navindran, former Subang Jaya District Police Chief ACP Zainal Rashid Abu Bakar, the Inspector-General of Police and the government as defendants.

In her statement of claim, Indra claimed that all the defendants had failed to ensure the safety, health and welfare of the deceased (Kugan) while he was in police custody from Jan 14 to 20, 2009 and to supervise and monitor the policemen there.

The 44-year-old mother also claimed that the defendants had failed to provide a safe system for the questioning of the suspect while in police detention and failed to provide health care for her son.

She further claimed that the defendants also attempted to cover-up the actual cause of Kugan’s death and/or issued statements calculated to exonerate the police from blame or liability.

She is seeking RM100 million in general and exemplary damages, cost and and any other relief deemed fit by the court. — Bernama