There is no evidence to establish a link between the recent deaths of three police detainees to the conduct of any police personnel, Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Hueng (photo) told Parliament today.

The deputy minister said this when responding to a question from Opposition Leader Abdul Hadi Awang (PAS-Marang) who asked if an investigation had been conducted regarding the deaths.

Chor (BN-Alor Setar) added that police investigations were conducted but had found no criminal elements on the part of any police personnel.

The deaths of S Tharma Rajen, M Ragupathy and S Vivashanu Pillai which occurred within a span of six weeks had raised allegations of police brutality.

Two of the detainees Tharma Rajen and Ragupathy were held on separate occasions at the Putrajaya police station.

Police have completed their investigations into the duo and the cases have been forwarded to the Attorney-General's Chambers for further action.

Inquest underway

At present, an inquest into the circumstances which led to Tharma Rajen's death on June 21 is underway at the Sepang Magistrate's court.

However, Chor said the 19-year-old waiter who was detained under 'Ops Copperhead' a crackdown on Indian Malaysian underworld figures was confirmed to have died from tuberculosis.

He added that Ragupathy, 24, had died from a cardiac arrest due to "stenosed mitral valve prosthesis".

Regarding the third detainee Vivashanu, 24, the deputy minister said he could have drowned in the Klang river in a bid to evade the police after he had escaped from custody on Aug 2.

Chor added that a postmortem on the highly decomposed body which his family says is Vivashanu was conducted four days later and no signs of foul play were discovered.

However, he said, the actual reason of death could not be ascertained until a complete report from toxicology experts is obtained.

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

Police are concerned

Chor stressed that the police are concerned about the possible conduct of its personnel and officers which could lead to the death or injury of detainees.

"Police will not protect any criminal conduct of its staff and officers. Severe actions and prosecution will be taken in court if the safety of the detainees are affected due to the criminal actions of any police personnel and officers," he said.

Following this, Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh) (photo) questioned why the government did not announce the facts about the three cases earlier when requested by the families and non-governmental organisations.

Chor said he revealed the facts as required of him in response to a parliamentary question and it was not his intention to make an open announcement on the matter.

"These three cases are still in the process to have a court inquest. If we announce our findings we may differ from the findings and decisions of the inquest," he explained.

"Thus, I have said that inquest is very important for all these three cases. Allow the inquest to be completed before we reveal (our findings) when people asked,"