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The family of a youth who died in police custody due to heart failure claimed the authorities were negligent in not providing proper medical care and had failed to inform the family of his worsening condition.

K Subramaniam, whose 22-year-old stepbrother M Ragubathy died in the Putrajaya police station lock-up last Sunday, said the police did not respond to the deceased's request for medical treatment.

The brothers, who hail from Johor, were detained with eight others for allegedly robbing a snooker centre in Sepang, Selangor, on July 18.

"On July 20, Ragubathy could not sleep as he was in pain. Both of us pleaded three to four times a day that he be brought to a hospital but they did not take him," said Subramaniam at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Only when his condition became serious six days later and he began vomiting did the police take him to a nearby clinic, he added.

"Ragubathy told me that there was no doctor and only an attendant gave him medication.

"He took the medication at 9pm but he became worse after that. I further pleaded to the police that he be taken to the National Heart Institute but they did not do anything," he said.

Heart failure

According to the burial permit, Ragubathy's death was due to congestive heart failure. The scrap metal dealer has a prosthetic valve in is heart which requires waffarin — a type of anticoagulant.

Subramaniam, who was released on police bail, said on the day of the arrest Ragubathy was planning to collect more waffarin from the National Heart Institute as his supply had run out.

"The night before (Ragubathy died), they (the police) came to me and asked me what was wrong with him. I then said to them that they were the ones who had brought him to a clinic, how would I know?

"They came back at 3am and told me that my brother had died," he said.

Subramaniam also denied committing the robbery and said the 10 had stopped at the centre for a game of snooker during their trip to Kuala Lumpur.

They later got into an argument with the owner who Subramaniam claimed cheated them of RM500 in an electronic horse betting game.

He said they fled the scene when the owner and his workers whipped out their parang .

According to him, they then spotted a police patrol car and followed it hoping they would be given protection but then decided to make a u-turn after realising that there were only three police personnel in the vehicle.

The patrol car then pursued their van and flagged them down. They were accused of robbing the snooker centre and subsequently detained.

Also present at the press conference held at the office of the family's lawyer were Ragubathy's 19-year-old wife R Kalavathi, father K Nadesan and mother M Pushparani.

The deceased also leaves behind a seven-month-old son.

Second incident

In a statement issued later, the family's lawyer Uthayakumar called on Sepang police chief Mohd Shukri Dahlan to resign.

Police have ruled out any foul play and said the suspect died of natural causes.

This is the second detainee held at the Putrajaya police station to have died over the past two months.

On June 31, 19-year-old S Tharma Rajen who was detained for gangsterism died on the way to the Putrajaya Hospital.

His family, too, accused the police of negligence in not providing medical assistance to the teenager whose death was later confirmed to be due to tuberculosis.

They are still waiting for the official postmortem to be released to them.

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