A preliminary post-mortem has confirmed that N Harirajan, who died in Kajang Prison last week, died from a retroviral disease, which is AIDS, PKR legal bureau deputy chief S Jayathas said today.

After raising the family’s suspicion over the 34-year-old’s death three months into his sentence in the prison, Jayathas ( left ) said the family is still unhappy with the report and is questioning why the prison authorities did not diagnose or act on Harirajan’s disease earlier.

“The family did not know he ever had AIDS. But if he had the disease, why was he not treated, or diagnosed earlier?” Jayathas told Malaysiakini when contacted today.

Jayathas said that the family remained unconvinced over the cause of Harirajan's death as they had spotted bruises on the chest, head and stitches above the right eye on the body at the Kajang Hospital.

“They have lodged a police report regarding this matter, and most probably they will ask for a second post-mortem,” he said.

The report was also not comprehensive, Jayathas said.

“It only said two things - that he died due to a coronary artery disease and a retroviral disease,” he said.

The family had refused to sign to collect his body from the Kajang Hospital previously as they refused to accept the reasons behind the death of Harirajan, who was convicted for robbery.

“The post mortem still doesn’t explain the state with which the family saw the body in the hospital,” he added.

The family had initially hoped that the post-mortem report released today would provide them closure.