The family of deceased A. Kugan was once again left disappointed. The judge hearing the application for the return of his seized blood and tissue samples was away outstation so the case was postponed this morning.

Counsel for the family N.Surendren, said this to reporters outside the courtroom, on his behalf senior assistant registrar Azlinda binti Ahmad Sharif adjourned the hearing to July 15.

"The hearing was postponed because of the preliminary objections raised on technical grounds by Deputy Public Prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin against the Kugan family's application," he said.

Kugan case 020709 04 Surendran (left) added that they were disappointed with the DPP for raising the objections without clearly specifying what the technical grounds were.

"They wanted to catch us by surprise, as it is standard practice for the lawyer of one side to provide details of their objections to the opposing lawyer," said Surendren.

However, Noorin told reporters that she had already laid down the grounds for her objections on paper.

Police detained Kugan, 22, for alleged car theft early this year. He died five days later in their custody.

"Illegal seizure"

The first post-mortem report by Dr. Abdul Karim Tajuddin at the Serdang Hospital gave fluid in the lungs as the cause of death.

However, the second post-mortem carried out by University Hospital's Dr Prashant N. Samberkar revealed that Kugan was severely beaten up resulting in kidney failure and death.

Currently, the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) is probing Dr. Karim Tajuddin's professional conduct in relation to the cause of Kugan's death in the first post-mortem report. The investigation, which was originally scheduled for June 19, had been postponed to August 21.

kugan samples raided by police 080409 03 On April 6, police seized Kugan's blood and tissue samples, documents and even Dr Preshant's handwritten notes from the University Hospital's Pathology Department.

However, according to Surendran, no reason was given for the action.

"The seizure was illegal, because those samples were required for Dr Prashant to complete his post mortem examination," he said.

Surendran added, "The police knew that the toxicology reports were not completed yet. This poses a question: did they not want the report to be completed? If so, why?"

Surendran also expressed frustration over Law Minister Mohamad Nazri Abdul Aziz's statement regarding Kugan's case.

MMC probe unrelated to hearing

Nazri had stated previously that nobody would be charged before August 21, as the MMC inquiry on Dr. Karim Tajuddin had yet to start.

"This is an absurd reason, this (MMC probe) has nothing to do with whether or not the policemen who killed Kugan should be charged. These are two completely different things," Surendran said.

Kugan case 020709 01 Kugan's family , including his mother N. Indra and relative S. Renuga, were also present at the court this morning and expressed their anger at the police.

"The police have no right to kill people like that. There is no evidence for Kugan's alleged crimes. Where are the cars that he had stolen?" Renuga asked.

Surendran also expressed his disappointment with the attorney general (AG), Abdul Gani Patail.

He said that the AG should have let the court decide whether or not the police should have seized the samples and should the samples be returned to University Hospital.

"Instead of doing this, the DPP raised objections without going into the matter (of the samples) fully. This shows that the AG is not playing a straight game here. He is not interested in establishing justice." he said.

"Even though there is a complete lack of transparency, we will fight all the way to the highest court to get justice for Kugan's family." said Surendran.

VIDEO | 3 mins