PETALING JAYA: The Sessions Court will decide on Dec 3, whether constable V Navindran, accused of causing severe injuries to A Kugan who was detained at a police lock, will be called to defend himself or freed from the charges.
Judge Aslam Zainuddin set the date after Deputy Public Prosecutor Abaszafree Mohd Abbas and defence lawyer Datuk P M Nagarajan, representing the accused, agreed to the date.
The defence is to reply to the prosecution’s submission by Nov 22.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Abazafree Mohd Abbas, Lailawati Ali and Azlina Rasdi acted for the prosecution while Navindran was represented by defence counsel Datuk P M Nagarajan.
On Oct 1, last year, Navindran, 28, pleaded not guilty to two charges of causing grievous hurt to Kugan, 23, suspect in a car theft.
Navindran was accused of committing the offences at an interrogation room of the serious crimes branch’s office (D9) at the Taipan police station in USJ, Subang Jaya, at 7am and 4pm on Jan 16, 2009.
Navindran, who was attached to the Subang Jaya district police station, was alleged to have caused grievous hurt to Kugan to extort a confession or information which may lead to the detection of an offence or misconduct.
If found guilty, Navindran could be jailed for up to 10 years and fined under Section 331 of the Penal Code.
The trial which started on Feb 18, 2010 and lasted for 25 days saw 24 witnesses taking the stand.
Kugan was detained on Jan 15 for an alleged car theft and was in police custody when he died five days later. — Bernama