The final submission in the inquest into the death of police detainee R Gunasegaran has been put off to Aug 27 after the lawyer for his family applied to introduce a new witness and recall the six police officers who had arrested him.

"This is because we want to ask them new questions that may shed some more light on the case," M Visvanathan ( below ), who represents Gunasegaran's family in the inquest, told reporters outisde the Jalan Duta courtroom today.

NONE The witnesses to be recalled are the six police officers, including Sgt-Major Rajinder Singh and Sgt Subari Sarno.

The new witness is magistrate Nazran Md Sham, who viewed Gunasegaran's body after he was declared dead, which is a normal procedure for deaths in police custody.

"He was supposed to view the body and perform certain actions, as per procedures when a prisoner dies in custody. We need to ask him because he was the only one who can tell us if he did them," explained Visvanathan.

The lawyer added that he also had to delay the proceedings because the Attorney-General's Chambers was yet to produce in court a set of fingerprints allegedly taken from Gunasegaren before his death.

The magistrate presiding as coroner, Siti Shakirah Mohtarudin, allowed the request after meeting with Visvanathan and deputy public prosecuter Shashitah Mohamad Hanifa in her chambers.

The witnesses will have to appear before the inquest on Aug 27, while the date for the final submission has been moved to Sept 13.

Chest injury

NONE Gunasegaran, who was found dead the same day as Teoh Beng Hock ( right ) last July, was allegedly kicked on the chest while in police custody.

The police have denied any wrongdoing, saying that the detainee "collapsed while being fingerprinted".

A second autopsy performed in Gunasegaran's body upon his family's insistence revealed evidence of an injury, measuring 28cm by 8cm and 5cm deep, on his chest.

However ,the doctor performing the autopsy testified the injury stemmed from "resuscitation efforts", despite police personnel denial that they had done so.

Gunasegaran's death was overshadowed by that of Teoh, political aide to a Selangor exco member, who was found dead on July 16 outside Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam, where the Selangor office of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission is located.