KUALA LUMPUR, July 27 — Set up four years ago, the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) held its first public hearing today with an inquiry into the 2013 death of N. Dharmendran while under police custody with aims of identifying possible flaws in the current standard operating procedures (SOP) for detainees.

The public inquiry was jointly chaired by EAIC commissioner Vinayak Prabhakar Pradhan with commissioner Leong May Chan.

Vinayak kicked off the proceedings by reading aloud the objectives of the inquiry, which included identifying the possible transgressions of the policemen said to be involved in the death of Dharmendran, then aged 31, in a lock-up and who were subsequently charged in May 2013 though they were eventually acquitted in December last year.

“Had there been any misconduct involved, we will need to identify how and why it occurred; what the rules, methods, standard operating procedures (SOP) or mechanisms that caused the misconduct to occur; and the individuals responsible,” Vinayak said, reading from a statement at the start of the inquiry.

The EAIC have also stated that it will recommend improvements to SOPs based on its findings to prevent reoccurrences and to prepare a report on the results of the inquiry.

Indah Water employee Dharmendran died on May 21, 2013 while in police custody at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters for questioning over the attempted murder of two people in Cheras.

A month later, four police officers were charged in court on suspicion of causing his death.

However all four were acquitted last December by the High Court with Justice Kamardin Hashim ruling that the prosecution had failed to provide a motive for the officers and only provided circumstantial evidence to back its case.

Today’s inquiry heard testimonies from three people, including Dharmendran’s widow Marry Mariay Susay, 28, Dharmendran’s father V. Narayanasamy and the Dang Wangi police station photographer who took post-mortem photographs of Dharmendran.

The inquiry will continue tomorrow until Friday with six more people scheduled to deliver their testimonies, including a coroner, a forensics expert and magistrate Adibah Abdul Kadir who issued the remand order for Dharmendran following his arrest.

The inquiry will then take a break before resuming on August 17 to 21.

Resource : The Malay Mail Online