The Sepang Magistrate's Court will hold an inquiry next week into the case of 19-year-old waiter, S Tharma Rajen, who died while under police custody.

Kuala Lumpur High Court registrar Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah said today the inquiry pursuant to Section 344 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) will be held between Sept 3 and Sept 5.

Zabidin said this in a statement sent to human rights group Suaram. A copy of the statement was made available to malaysiakini .

Suaram was among the 27 non-governmental organisations and political parties which submitted an application to Chief Justice Mohamed Dzaiddin Abdullah calling for an inquiry into the deaths of Tharma Rajen (photo) and two other detainees.

Tharma Rajen, who hails from Kuala Lumpur, was detained in April during an operation to crackdown on Indian gangsters and was later remanded at the Putrajaya police station. He died at the Putrajaya hospital on June 21.

On the death of another detainee, M Ragubathy, 24, the registrar said the matter was still in the preliminary stage as the Sepang Magistrate's Court was awaiting a post-mortem report from Universiti Malaya Medical Centre.

Raghubathy, who was also under the detention of the Putrajaya police, died on July 28.

Public interest

Regarding the third detainee, 24-year-old food stall operator Vivashanu Pillai, Zabidin said the Kuala Lumpur court has yet to receive any "sudden death" report or any kind of notification from the police to date.

Vivashanu's mother had lodged a police report claiming that her son was subjected to beatings during his detention.

She claimed that a highly decomposed body found in the Klang river on Aug 4 was that of her son but police said he had escaped from custody two days before.

The families of the other two detainees have also alleged foul play, a charge which the police have denied.

Meanwhile, Zabidin said he was directed by the chief justice to reveal the recent developments on the cases as these were of public interest although it was not the policy of the judiciary to comment on matters that were before the court.

He also clarified that the chief justice has no jurisdiction to direct a magistrate to hold inquiries. Instead the power lies with the attorney-general (AG) under section 329 of the CPC.

Counsel P Uthayakumar who is representing the families of the three youths said that while they welcomed the positive development for Ragupathy and Tharma Rajen, it was upsetting to know that the police has yet to lodge a report on Vivashanu's death.

"The law is clear that the police must report to the magistrate when a person under their custody has died. By not reporting his death indicates that something is wrong and they are trying to cover it up.

"We still suspect that the deceased died in the hands of the police before his body was thrown into the Klang river," he said when contacted later.

Legal action

Uthayakumar said he was hopeful for a positive reply to the letter of demand sent to AG Abdul Gani Patail yesterday seeking that he direct an inquiry to be held on the other two youths' deaths within 14 days.

"As stated in our demand we will initiate a suit against the AG and the government for failure to order for the inquiry. This has to be taken seriously as these three deaths had occurred within three months and such incidents must be stopped," he said.

Among the NGOs and political parties which called for the inquest are Keadilan, PRM, Aliran, Amnesty International Malaysia, Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM), Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim), Human Rights Society of Malaysia (Hakam) and SOS Selangor.

In the application, the group said an inquest was necessary as the deaths were tainted by allegations of police brutality and misuse of power. The inquest will also ensure that justice was served.