“MY WORST fear of my brother dying in police custody came true,” said P. Karuna Nithi’s sibling as he recalled the horrifying moment when he got to know that his brother had died in the Tampin police headquarters lock-up on Saturday.

P. Ilam said when he first got a call from a police officer, who informed him that Karuna had been arrested, he pleaded, “Please, do not hurt or beat my brother.”

“I said it because I have been reading news about deaths in police custody recently and knowing Karuna was detained just frightened me,” said Ilam at their family house in Gemenceh yesterday.

Ilam said the police officer, only known as Sergeant Aziz, assured him that his brother would not be tortured as Karuna was arrested because of a family problem.

Karuna was arrested on May 28 when he had gone to lodge a police report after he had hit his wife following a heated argument.

Ilam said even after the officer told him that they would not hurt Karuna, his heart was still not at ease as he feared for the safety of his brother, who he described as a loving person.

On Friday at 9.45pm, his worst nightmare came true when he received a call from Aziz, this time breaking the devastating news that his brother had died.

“I was shocked, I asked them how could this be, and the officer just told me my brother was no longer alive. When I asked him how he died, the officer could not explain,” he said.

Yesterday, Ilam and another brother, T. Tamilanban lodged a police report at the Tampin police station over their brother’s mysterious death.

“We seek justice, we want answers. There has been a criminal element and the police must answer,” he said.

‘Karuna was a ‘gem of a person’

P. KARUNA NITHI was described as a gem of a person by his sister-in-law, S. Manimegalai. She said Karuna was feeling bad that he had hit his wife and went to lodge a police report.

“He is normally a patient person. However on that day, he lost it and hit his wife after she hurled abusive words at him.”

Manimegalai said he loved and took good care of his two sons — Yugeshvaran, 15 and Kishokumar, 13.

“He had been married for 17 years and only had problems with his wife recently.”

Manimegalai said the wife never turned up for the funeral, but allowed the children to go.

“The two boys are devastated as they loved their father very much.”

Police urge public not to speculate

POLICE yesterday strongly stood by their initial findings that there was no foul play by their men with regards the death of P. Karuna Nithi.

Negri Sembilan police chief Datuk Osman Salleh said police were confident in ruling out all criminal elements as CCTV findings in the lock-up where he was found dead did not show any manhandling of the deceased.

He said the CCTV recordings also did not show the deceased interacting or fighting with others as he was placed in a separate lock-up.

Urging certain political parties and quarters not to speculate till the pathologist report is out in mid-June, he asked for some time to be given for the police to carry out investigations.

Osman said around 30 statements have been recorded so far, including from his wife, family and a group of friends whom the deceased was said to hang out with. These friends were also allegedly involved in gambling activities.

“We don’t want to say anything that might hurt the family who are still mourning. We don’t want to be inconsiderate by telling them certain things about his background that they might not want to hear now.”

“We will reveal everything once the full pathologist report is out. But what I can assure you for now is there is no cover up and no foul play involved,” said Osman.

He also said Karuna was not an ex-engineer as claimed and had been jobless for the last six years. He added that police were not responsible for certain pictures going viral on online portals or other media, suggesting marks on the victim’s body showed he was tortured by cops.

“Once the pathologist report is out, we will show you the exact picture. Till then, we urge the public not to speculate.”

The case is classified as sudden death.

-The Malay Mail – 05/06/2013