Pakatan Rakyat MPs want the Home Ministry and the police to explain the sudden spike in shooting deaths by police over the past two years.

Batu MP Tian Chia said the sudden jump in deaths from 13 in 2007 to 82 in 2008 was a worrying trend and the root cause needed to be identified.

"Are the police using excessive force or are criminals becoming more violent? It is necessary for the Home Ministry and the police to explain," he told a press conference with other Pakatan MPs at the Parliament lobby today.

The PKR chief strategist was commenting on the recent fatal shooting of four suspected robbers at the house of Pahang executive councillor Wan Adnan Wan Mamat late on Monday night.

Tian Chua noted that figures on shooting deaths released by the Home Ministry had been relatively low over three years from 2005, when nine were recorded, followed by 16 in 2006 and a slight dip to 13 in 2007.

However, the figures shot up to 82 in 2008 and went six deaths higher to 88 in 2009.

PKR's Indera Mahkota MP Azan Ismail also queried the alleged RM300,000 cash carted away by the robbers from Wan Adnan's house, saying it was odd that an executive councillor would have so much money stashed in his house.

"I urge the authorities to investigate why a state exco member has so much money in his house," he said, citing The Star 's version of the report.

However, The Star 's online edition changed the figure today, reducing it from RM300,000 to RM300.