The Police Watch and Human Rights Committee has highlighted another suspicious death of a police detainee three days ago while the man was under remand.

The committee which was set up under the yet-to-be-registered Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia held a press conference yesterday together with the family members of G Veerasamy, a 52-year-old security guard who died while he was held in a police lock-up.

In a report (No. 21080) lodged yesterday morning at the Brickfields police station in Kuala Lumpur, Veerasamy's son Suresh said his father was arrested on Nov 24 by the Pandan Indah police for unknown reasons and remanded until Dec 1 this year.

Suresh, 30, said his father was perfectly healthy when he last saw him at the Pandan Indah police station on the day of his arrest.

However, Suresh said he was informed on Friday that his father had died while he was in the police lock-up.

"I met my father at the Pandan Indah police station on Nov 24 at about 9pm and he was really healthy and fine. Yesterday, an ASP Seah called me at about 4:30pm asking me to go to the police station on an urgent matter. Upon my enquiry, he said that my father had died in police custody," he said in the report.

On identifying Veerasamy's body at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL), Suresh said he saw suspicious injury marks on his father's face.

"I saw cuts on his nose and a Professor Dr Sharom (from the hospital) explained to me that my father had died of stomach pains. The professor threatened not to release the body when I questioned him further about my father's death," he said.

As a result of this, Suresh said the police should investigate into the circumstances of his father's death and for the police to order the post mortem report to be released immediately.

"I suspect my father was assaulted and beaten while he was in custody. I want the police to investigate into this report and let me know the findings within seven days," he stated.

Covered body

Police watch committee chairperson RN Rajah (photo) said the family members were still waiting for the post mortem report before deciding on further action.

He said although Suresh had seen the cuts on Veerasamy's face, he was unable to inspect other parts of his father's body as it was covered up.

"It is clear that Veerasamy had died in police custody. Suresh was at the police station when they were removing the body. He was not allowed to see his father's body then and was told to go later to the hospital," he said.

Rajah said although the HKL pathologist had allowed the body to be released, family members are still deciding whether to pursue the matter further.

"They called me yesterday for assistance so we have told them to consider for a day what they want to do. We will take instructions from the family," he said.

The police watch committee had been involved in several high-profile cases involving police custodial deaths.

A recent case handled by the committee was that of coconut trader Ho Kwai See who died in August while he was held in the Sungai Buloh prison.

After their suspicion was aroused upon seeing bruises on Ho's body, his family members attempted to secure a court order for a second post mortem to be conducted.

However, their bid was rejected by the Kuala Lumpur High Court, thereby closing the case prematurely.