Malaysian Crime Watch Task Force (MyWatch) chairperson R Sri Sanjeevan has been remanded for 21 days, according to his lawyer Preakas Sampunathan.

Preakas said the remand under Section 4(1) of the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (Poca) was granted by a magistrate's court in Kuala Lumpur during a hearing at 11am today.

“We have raised an objection that he (Sanjeevan) does not fall under a registrable category of the First Schedule of Poca, and he has already been held for (19 days) for other offences,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted today.

Despite his arguments, Preakas said, the magistrate granted the full 21 days allowed under Section 4(1), which can be further extended by 38 days.

He claimed the magistrate ruled that the police were acting within their powers of investigation.

An inquiry will be held under Poca during the duration of the remand, which will determine whether Sanjeevan falls under any registrable category under Poca.

Later today, Sanjeevan's lead counsel Gobind Singh tweeted that he had received instructions to challenge the detention, and an application will be filed by Wednesday.

Under Poca, a Prevention of Crime Board is empowered to determine whether a person falls under one of the 10 registrable categories under the act.

Such persons would include members of criminal gangs and unlawful societies, drug and human traffickers, gambling den operators, and anyone above 21 years old who has been convicted of offences involving dishonesty or violence on at least three occasions.

The board may impose various restrictions on a person’s freedom of movement for up to five years if they are found to be under a registrable category.

These can include confining the person to a geographical area, which can range from a village to a state, compelling the person to wear electronic monitoring devices, or two years’ detention without trial.

Asked why the police invoked Poca against Sanjeevan, Preakas said this question was best directed to the police.

“They just produced (a written statement) to the magistrate and claimed there are sufficient grounds to detain, but the statement was not given to the defence,” he said.

Sanjeevan was arrested on June 22 after a gambling den operator claimed the former had extorted RM25,000 from him. His driver has been also arrested.

Since then, Sanjeevan had been repeatedly released and rearrested for another investigation, which are for alleged extortion and criminal intimidation.

His arrest under Poca yesterday was his ninth since June 22.