Penang police chief Othman Talib has promised to get to the bottom of a case involving a hawker who was allegedly assaulted by four police officers while collecting scrap materials from a rubbish bin.

He vowed that there would be 'no cover-up' and added that a second identification parade, under the supervision of the police headquarters, will be arranged.

Othman was responding to victim Tan Pang Aik's claim that the first parade at the Timur Laut district police headquarters last Wednesday was 'flawed' as it did not include his alleged assailants.

"There is no cover-up in this matter. If we have enough evidence, we will take action (against the suspects)," said the police chief when contacted yesterday.

However, Othman said a medical report from the Penang General Hospital on Dec 24 was inconsistent with the alleged assault described by the 44-year-old hawker.

While Tan claimed that he was beaten on his stomach and back with a stick and helmet, the medical examination by Dr Lee Choon Peng revealed no external injuries.

Intimidated by the police

Meanwhile, Tan said he felt "intimidated" by the police who rushed him through the identification parade, for which his lawyers were allegedly barred from being present.

"The ones on parade were all irrelevant people who had nothing to do with my case. They were older men although I have specified that the policemen who assaulted me were younger," he told malaysiakini .

In the Nov 26 incident, Tan claimed that at 1am he was accosted by four police officers as he was foraging through a rubbish bin for tin cans and other scrap metal.

He claimed that the police had accused him of committing theft and proceeded to hit him repeatedly with a stick and helmet.

Following this, he was handcuffed and taken to the Pulau Tikus police station. Here, one of his assailants, wearing the name tag Saravanan, had allegedly taken RM550 from his trousers' pocket.

"Saravanan told me not to tell the others what he did. But he gave me back RM50 and asked me to buy six cans of 100 Plus (soft drink) from a nearby store.

"After I returned to the police station with the canned drinks, I was told to go home immediately and warned not to report the matter," added the hawker, who lodged a report two days later.

In a related development, Tan's lawyer Jimmy Gay commended the police chief for taking the initiative to organise a second identification parade.

He said a report on the case has been sent to the Prime Minister's Office and the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) on Dec 8.

"The case not only involves assault and battery but robbery as well. We hope the police will step up their investigation as this is a case of police abuse," added Gay, who is also Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) legal bureau exco-member.