The developer in charge of the West Coast Expressway (WCE) that will link Banting in Selangor with Taiping in Perak has denied that its construction has resulted in the damage to a Hindu cemetary.

The company stressed that it has taken all precautions to ensure that no harm came to the cemetery in Bukit Raja estate, Klang, near one of its construction sites.

"WCE's highway construction never intruded into the Bukit Raja Estate cemetery.

"We have done all we can to ensure the cemetery was not affected," the developer said in an email to Malaysiakini.

Earlier, residents of Mutiara Bukit Raja, Klang, claimed that more than 50 graves at the Hindu cemetery were damaged because of construction work by WCE in the area.

Community leader Kamaravel Suprayan alleged that some of the graves at the cemetery located at Bukit Raja (Boon Hean) Estate were also damaged, with several headstones removed, which were discovered by visiting relatives. 

However, WCE denied that it had disinterred bodies or removed anything from the cemetery as its earlier evaluations found that there was no need to do so.

"Exhaustive inspections by our engineers before starting work found that the nearby construction would not affect the graves.

"And as the graves were not going to be affected, the issue of exhuming the remains never came up, the developer said.

Malaysiakini's checks indicated that the developer may have encroached into the cemetery, which is located some 50 metres from the main construction site in the Kota Anggerik constituency.

It is understood that the cemetery is located on land belonging to Sime Darby Plantation, and is for the use of residents from Ladang Boon Hean, Ladang Sungai Rasa, Ladang Bukit Raja, Ladang Sungai Binjai, Ladang New Eskadale, Ladang Kilang Kelapa Sawit and Ladang Harpandan.

The cemetery was set up in 1957, residents said.