The Malaysian Insight

THERE is no evidence to suggest that Ganapathy Anpalagan was beaten while he was in custody, said Gombak police chief Arifai Tarawe.

Furthermore, the deceased did not make any complaint about the alleged beating when he was taken to the magistrates’ court or to the hospital, Arifai told a press conference today.

The police chief said the 40-year-old, who died from his injuries on April 18, was taken to court on three occasions and to the hospital on four occasions.

“He never complained of beatings to the magistrate or the doctors,” Arifai said.

He added that police are investigating after Ganapathy’s family lodged a police report.

Arifai also urged the public not to circulate videos of alleged “police brutality” as it will jeopardise investigations.

He was referring to a viral CCTV video which showed two individuals getting beaten up in an office while a group watched and laughed.

Social media users said that one of those being beaten was Ganapathy, a claim which Arifai denied.

“I strongly deny these claims. We will take action against those spreading this lie.

“The public is advised to stop spreading this video clip or relating it to Ganapathy’s case,” the Gombak police chief had said in a statement earlier.

He stressed this was not a racial issue and warned those who uploaded the video on social media, describing it as a racial incident, that they will be called in.

Lawyer Ganesh Kanagaretnam earlier told The Malaysian Insight that a post-mortem confirmed Ganapathy died of injuries believed to have been caused by beatings while he was in police custody.

He was arrested on February 24 to assist in investigations into his brother’s alleged crimes. He is reported to have spent 12 days in police custody from February 24 to March 8 before he was admitted to the hospital.

Ganapathy’s 60-year-old mother, S. Thanaletchumy, said her son told her that police had beaten him with a rubber hose.

While at the hospital, Ganapathy was confirmed to have kidney problems and had one leg amputated.

He died after a month in the intensive care unit.

His family claimed Ganapathy’s health deteriorated because of his stint in police custody, resulting in his leg being swollen and bruised as though he had been beaten.

Ganapathy had worked as a trader selling cow’s milk and had two children aged five and seven. – April 30, 2021.