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Cop in Kugan case to enter defence

Friday, 20 January 2012 08:46am

©The New Straits Times (Used by permission)

CONSTABLE V. Navindran was yesterday ordered to enter his defence for causing hurt to suspected car thief A. Kugan, who died while in police custody three years ago.

In allowing the prosecution's appeal against Navindran's acquittal last year, High Court judge Datuk Ahmadi Asnawi ordered Navindran to enter his defence on the two alternative charges. He fixed Wednesday for mention at the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court.

On Jan 28 last year, Navindran was acquitted by the Sessions Court without his defence being called on two principal charges of causing grievous hurt and two alternative charges of causing hurt to Kugan.

The 29-year-old father of one was alleged to have committed the offences at the interrogation room of the Taipan police station at 7am and 4pm on Jan 16, 2009.

Earlier, during submissions, deputy public prosecutor Mohamad Abazafree Mohd Abbas said the Sessions Court judge had erred in freeing Navindran without calling for his defence. "In his grounds of judgment, the judge found that only one of the four eyewitnesses who saw the incident was lying. Then what about the three other witnesses?"

Abazafree said the trial judge also found the four witnesses failed to jot down the assault incident in the station diary. But, he said, they had explained this, saying it was because Kugan did not complain about it.

"Yet, the judge failed to take this into consideration.

"There were also three witnesses we did not call (Navindran's co-partner in interrogating Kugan and two other suspects who were also detained with Kugan)."

Abazafree said not calling them was the prosecution's prerogative and the three witnesses were offered to the defence.

Navindran's counsel, Datuk P.M. Nagarajan, submitted that the failure to call his client's partner in interrogating Kugan had cast a doubt on what really happened.

"We submit that Navindran was never at the interrogation room at 7am as it was not his shift and that he did not assault Kugan at 4pm as the eyewitnesses did not record it in the station diary, lodge a police report or inform the superior.

"There were a lot of injuries on Kugan, from his neck to toe, and the pathologist said these could have been inflicted by more than one person."

Ahmadi then asked Nagarajan if he had filed a notice of alibi, to which Nagarajan replied he had not. Nagarajan urged the court to dismiss the appeal.

"He cannot be made a scapegoat. Only one person was charged for an offence committed by several people."

Kugan, 22, who had been remanded for two weeks in connection with several luxury car thefts, collapsed and died at the Taipan police station in USJ, Subang Jaya, during interrogation.

His death gained wide media coverage when a group of people stormed a hospital mortuary, locked themselves in and took pictures of his body.

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