The family of a 28-year-old man who died on Monday after a week in custody has demanded a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death.

Ho Kwai See, a coconut trader from Kota Damansara, was last seen by family members nine days ago, on July 28. Unknown to them, police arrested him that evening and sent him to the Sungai Buloh prison several days later.

Today, his brother, Ho Kooi Sang, lodged a report at the Brickfields police station calling for an investigation, after seeing bruise marks across the chest of the deceased.

Meeting the press at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (KLH) mortuary, where a post-mortem was carried out this morning, Kooi Sang ( photo ) said he wanted the authorities to explain how his apparently healthy brother had died so suddenly while in custody.

"He did not have any illness and he did not have any stomach pains. We want to know what happened. I also saw a lot of blue black marks on his body," he said.

He said he could not be sure if there were other injury marks since the mortuary staff had uncovered only the upper section of his brother's body for identification purposes.

Inconsistencies found

Kooi Sang said he was unaware of his brother's arrest until he received an anonymous telephone call yesterday morning informing him that his brother had died.

"No one told us that he had been arrested. We only found out yesterday after we were told to identify his body at the hospital. The mortuary staff then told us that a post-mortem would be carried out today," he said.

Kwai See was said to have died as a result of a "perforated ulcer", according to the post-mortem findings.

Kooi Sang said several other inconsistencies had surfaced upon his inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his brother's arrest and detention.

"The police said he was arrested for suspected involvement in drug-related activities but we had no knowledge of any such thing. My brother had a job working together with another brother," he said.

Deadline for action

Police Watch and Human Rights Committee chairperson R N Rajah said the family had approached the committee for assistance after suspecting foul play.

"The family members suspect that the young man was beaten up by officers either at the Kota Damansara police station or at the Sungai Buloh prison where he was held," he said.

"A police report has been filed calling for an investigation into this case. We are giving the police 14 days to respond before we take further action."

Rajah said the latest incident was alarming because the number of reported deaths in police custody has continued to climb despite media publicity over several earlier cases.

"On average, one person dies in police custody every two weeks," he said referring to statistics compiled by the Home Ministry.

Human rights lawyer and committee legal adviser P Uthayakumar said anyone who suffers from ulcer problems should generally have a history of stomach pain.

"But the family has said that he was healthy. Also, if he had died of a perforated ulcer, he would have been in severe pain for several days," he said.

"Why didn't the police send him to the hospital to receive medical attention? The police could have saved his life, so why didn't they do it?"

Custodial deaths

Another lawyer, M Manoharan ( photo, left ) said that, unless there is a full explanation by the police, the family would file a civil suit seeking aggravated and exemplary damages from the police, prison authorities and the government, possibly amounting to more than RM5 million.

"This is a case of negligence by the authorities. (The deceased's) family had no opportunity to help him or to see him one last time before he died. He was also a young and healthy person," he explained.

This incident is the latest of a series of custodial deaths highlighted by the police watch committee since June last year when the death of S Tharma Rajen, 20, aroused suspicion after family members found his body riddled with injury marks.

The committee has since assisted three families in bringing civil suits against the police and the government for their failure to preserve the lives of those in custody.

Late last year, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Chor Chee Heung revealed that 34 people had died while under police detention in three years.

Six persons died in 2000, 10 in 2001 and 18 during the first nine months of last year.