N Indra, A Kugan's mother, told the Kuala Lumpur High Court that she does not believe the first post-mortem report on her son, as she believes he had died from the beatings he suffered while in police detention.

NONE Indra ( left ) also told the court, in the her RM100 million civil suit against the government and the police, that contrary to the first post-mortem which found 22 injuries to his body, the second detailed 45.

Besides Indra, her solicitor N Surendran also testified at the proceedings where video footages of Kugan's body lying in the Serdang Hospital mortuary on Jan 20 night, 2009, were screened in court.

Surendran, who was the first witness to take the stand, explained the agony faced by the family on having to wait to see the body and also in having the authorities commit themselves to a second post-mortem, which was only sanctioned five days later on Jan 25.

He said the family had wanted to perform the funeral rites quickly in accordance with the Hindu religion, but following the circumstances of Kugan's death, he advised them not to bury or cremate the body until the outcome of the post-mortem was known.

“I told them it may be necessary to get a second post-mortem done if there are any doubts or insufficiencies of the first post-mortem results. The family was anxious to get the last rites done as soon as possible. It is Hindu custom to complete the funeral as quickly as possible,” he said.

NONE Surendran ( right ) said he went to the Serdang Hospital with Kapar MP S Manickavasagam, and found Deputy Minister T Mohan was also there.

Surendran also described Kugan's death as the worst death in custody case he has seen in his seven years' experience of handling such cases since 2009.

Cause of death heard over the radio

The first post-mortem revealed the cause of death was fluid in the lungs.

“I heard over a radio, while on the funeral procession, where Khalid said Kugan had died of water in the lungs. No mention was made of the horrific beatings that had truly caused the death. I knew then that the police were once again trying to cover up a death custody case.

“This time it was none other than the Selangor CPO who was making the statement,” Surendran said.

He explained that on hearing this, they decided to bring the body to the University Malaya Medical Centre which agreed to keep the body preserved before a post-mortem was done and paid for by Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo.

The second post-mortem performed by Dr Prashant Samberkar found that the cause of death was the terrible beatings that resulted in the cells breaking down, damaging Kugan’s kidneys.

"This led to a condition called rhabdomyolysis , which led to Kugan's death," said Surendran.

NONE Dr Prashant ( left ) was not present to testify at the proceedings as he had already returned to India with the expiry of his contract.

However, Surendran said Dr Abdul Karim Tajuddin had been  reprimanded by the Malaysian Medical Council.

The two witnesses were responding to questions posed from counsel Sivarasa Rasiah, who appeared with Latheefa Koya and  L Bani Prakash.

Lawyer R Ramesh Jeyakumar appeared for Navindran while senior federal counsel Azizan Md Arshad appeared for the other defendants.

Mother: I tried to find my son

Indra, 45, also told the court that she last saw her son on Jan 13 and when he failed to came home, she searched for him, including going to the Puchong police station.

The mother-of-four said despite not knowing Kugan's whereabouts, she decided not to lodge a police report over the matter and instead said she continued searching for him.

It was only after the police informed her of Kugan’s demise on the evening of Jan 20, 2009 that she went to the Serdang hospital mortuary.

azlan Indra said after seeing the condition of Kugan's body, she decided to lodge a police report over the circumstances of her son's death.

She claimed that Kugan had given her RM1,000 monthly for family expenses as her son worked as a security guard and also worked part-time as a tow-truck operator.

When posed by Azizan that the RM1,000 was not a fixed monthly payment by the deceased, the mother disagreed.

In her suit, Indra as administrator of Kugan's estate, had named former Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar, who is now deputy inspector-general of police (IGP), constable V Navindran, the late Subang Jaya OCPD ACP Zainal Rashid Abu Bakar, the IGP and government as defendants.

Hearing continues before Justice VT Singham on Tuesday.