MELAKA: An unemployed man has been arrested in connection with the body of a teenager found in a vacant premises in Taman Merdeka Jaya, here on Monday.
Melaka police chief Datuk Chuah Ghee Lye said the 49-year-old man was picked up in front of a hotel in Durian Tunggal here at 10pm and had been remanded for a week to facilitate further investigation into the case.
He said the suspect was believed to have kidnapped the 13-year-old boy, known as D.M.Gunaseelan, by luring him to play video games inside the vacant premises at 3 pm last Sunday.
“Once inside the premises, the victim was believed to have been tied to a chair before being left alone, while the suspect called the boy’s mother to make a ransom demand of RM20,000,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
Chuah said police also seized three mobile phones from the suspect during the arrest.
He said when taken to the scene at 11pm, the suspect admitted to have kidnapped the boy for ransom as he was facing financial difficulty.
“We are still waiting for the post mortem report to ascertain the actual cause of death and whether the boy was already dead before he was left alone in the premises,” he said.
Gunaseelan’s body was found by a couple checking to rent the vacant premises at 7pm on Monday.
His father, DD Murugan, 52, when met at the Melaka Hospital’s morgue, said the last time he saw his son was at 8 am on Sunday before he went to a nearby market.
“I told him to stay home and that I will be back with breakfast, but when I returned an hour later, he was nowhere to be found. I thought he went to the cyber cafe like he always did,” said the contract worker.
Murugan said his wife, AA Letchumy, 44, received the telephone call from an unknown man who said that their son was kidnapped for a ransom of RM20,000.
He said they quickly alerted the police before following the kidnapper’s instruction to bring the money to Banda Hilir.
“The man called again and said he knew police are hunting him and are trying to get him arrested … he said I will never see my son again,” Murugan said while holding back tears.
He said they were informed about the gruesome discovery of his son’s body at 11.30pm. — Bernama