A witness, who testified to seeing a police lance corporal kick detainee R Gunasegaran, was yesterday arrested.

According to an urgent press statement from human rights NGO Suaram, issued at 1.30am today, Selvachandran is being detained at the Kuala Lumpur contingent police station.

The 30-year-old was also beaten up by arresting officers in front of his wife before being arrested at about 10pm last night.  

His family, who were told that the 39-year-old will be held under remand for 60 days, have lodged a police report at the Wangsa Maju police station on his arrest and mistreatment.

The charges under which Selvachadran is being detained are not immediately known.

In his statement, Suaram coordinator Yap Heng Lung noted that a detainee can only be remanded for over 24 hours under the Internal Security Act, Emergency Ordinance and Dangerous Drugs Act 1985.

“Such police action will result in a drop in people’s confidence in the force, and almost shows them up as a tool used to intimidate the rakyat against testifying in court,” Yap said.

Earlier yesterday, coroner Siti Shakirah Mohtarudin said that the court could not conclusively say that the injuries found on Gunasegaran were the cause of death as the pathologist could only say that this is likely.

The second post mortem could not determine the cause of death as the body had decomposed after over a month at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital morgue.

Selvachandran, who was at the Sentul police station on July 16, 2009 on the day Gunasegaran was arrested, testified that he saw Lance Corporal Mohd Faizal Mat Taib kick the deceased in the chest.

The second post-mortem recorded a wound measuring 28cm x 8cm x 5cm on the deceased’s chest, which the pathologist noted could be from assault or resuscitation efforts.

However, witnesses testified that there were no resuscitation efforts carried out on Gunasegaran besides splashing water on his face, when he collapsed while his fingerprints were being taken.