Four policemen are alleged to have chased after, handcuffed and then smeared turmeric powder on the face of a security guard, before beating him to death together with a mob at Taman Pekaka, Hulu Langat yesterday.

The body of the victim Sugumar Chelliah, 40, is currently at Serdang hospital with his hands still handcuffed, claimed PKR human rights and legal bureau chief Latheefa Koya when contacted this afternoon.

NONELatheefa (left), who is at the hospital with Sugumar's family, said they are still waiting for the preliminary findings of the post-mortem.

She claimed that family members had been waiting to see the body after receiving a call from the police at 11.30pm last night informing them about Sugumar’s death.
Latheefa, who claims to have spoken to a person alleging to have witnessed the incident, said it took place at around 6.30pm yesterday.

According to her further, the eyewitness claimed police pursued the victim near to a cemetery there.

However, it was still not known why the deceased was being chased by police in the first place.
“He was beaten, handcuffed and one of the police personnel took out turmeric powder and more (beating) by 10 to 20 people.

“Police then brought a stretcher and covered the body with the stretcher,” he said.

She added that the deceased is believed to have been left by the roadside since his death at around 7pm till about 11pm, when a police forensic team arrived at the scene and took the his body to Serdang Hospital.

Hospital staff called police

PKR deputy human rights and legal bureau deputy chairperson S Jayathas, who was also at the hospital today, said a disturbance occured outside the morgue when hospital staff refused to allow Sugumar’s family to identify his body.

He claimed the situation became tense after the hospital counter staff refused to entertain family members who had arrived there, and instead called the police to handle the matter.

“The counter staff all went inside (the hospital). They called six security guards and around 20 police personnel, including four with M-16 rifles, to stand guard,” he said.

NONEHe added that at first, the investigating officer only permitted one family member to identify the body.

However, after discussing the matter with laywer N Surendran (left in photo), police allowed Surendran, Kapar MP Manickavasagam and four relations to see the body, Jayathas said.

Accoording to him, Manickavasagam established that the victim was still in handcuffs.

Latheefa said she, together with the deceased’s family, will determine the next course of action in a few hours times, after first studying the post-mortem findings.

“We urge the immediate suspension of all (police) involved and the arrests of those involved in the beating. This (case) must be classified as murder and an independent investigation be carried out,” she added.- Malaysiakini,
'Cops smear turmeric, fatally beat guard' 24/1/2013,