Investigations into the case of detainee G Francis Udayapan - reported missing while under the custody of Brickfields district police - has now been taken over by Kuala Lumpur City police, an interest group has said.

In their meeting with Kuala Lumpur police chief Mustafa Abdullah Wednesday afternoon, the Police Watch and Human Right Committee said they were informed that Kuala Lumpur have officially taken over the case from Brickfields - a move apparently ordered by Bukit Aman CID director Musa Hassan.

Mustafa confirmed the transfer of the probe and promised to be transparent in the investigations on the case.

"I'm not going to hide the facts and will always be transparent," he said.

While applauding the move, the committee is however unhappy that Mustafa was not able to provide a time-frame for investigations to be completed, meaning that the case may drag on with no conclusive end.

"It is important that they provide us with a target date. We are familiar with many such cases, which we never hear of any progress," Police Watch chairperson RN Rajah told malaysiakini over the phone.

Given the seriousness of the case, he said the police should at most take seven days to get to the bottom of the disappearance and determine if police officers were involved.

Nine days too long

The detainee's mother Sara first claimed on Tuesday that Brickfields district police officers were involved in the disappearance of her son - taken into custody on April 14 over the alleged theft of a handphone and for using a stolen motorbike.

Her version is radically different from the official line given by the Brickfields police chief to the press last week.

Zul Hasnan ( right ) claimed that Francis had escaped by jumping off the first floor building as he was being taken in for interrogation, and that he then squeezed through a hole in the fence of the police station before jumping into the Klang River behind the station.

In a related development, the city police chief also warned that action will be taken against those making allegations of foul play in Francis's escape and disappearance.

"They are free to make such allegations but if it's not true, they (will) have to face the consequences."

Besides Rajah, the Wednesday meeting with KL police chief was also attended by Sara, three other family members, and their lawyers S Uthayakumar and R Surendran.

Speaking through Uthayakumar this evening, Sara voiced unhappiness over the length of time taken by the police to realise that proper investigations into the matter needed to be conducted.

"The mother is unhappy because it has been nine days (since Francis was taken into police custody). She is also unhappy that Brickfields police told the press that Francis had previous convictions. It is not a fair statement to make, since Francis is not here to defend himself," said Uthayakumar.

Transparent investigation

Alarmed by the case, an interest group has urged the prime minister to order an investigation to be conducted by senior police officers, unconnected to Brickfields police.

In an open letter to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the National Human Rights Society (Hakam), said a high-level and transparent investigation is necessary in view of the rising trend of complaints of police brutality.

"This case is of serious concern to the public because of the frequent complaints regarding custodial violence and deaths in police lock-ups. The deeply disturbing statistics of deaths in custody have also been exposed in parliament," said its president Ramdas Tikamdas.

In Oct 2002, the then deputy home affairs minister Chor Chee Heung revealed that there has been a progressive increase in the number of deaths in custody since Jan 2000: six deaths in 2000, 10 in 2001, and 18 for the first nine months of 2002 alone.

"Given this alarming and dangerous trend, one can understand why the mother fears for the worse for her son who has gone missing in irregular and suspicious circumstances," said Ramdas.

Questions raised

Also voicing concern with the case is the opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan).

Its youth information chief Latheefa Koya said the police need to respond quickly to a number of questions raised over the case.

"Why has it taken the police such a long time to find the body, if indeed he is feared to have drowned? Were the accusations against Francis so serious that it warranted his escape from the police lock-up?" she asked in a statement.

She also protested the fact that the Brickfields police chief had publicly given a different explanation from the one told to Francis' mother by the officer-in-charge of the case.

"The arrogance of the police and the passivity of the royal police commission over this matter is much regretted.

"We also protest the action by the police in man-handling Keadilan youth vice president S Manickasavagam ( photo ) when he was present at the police station to provide support to Francis' family," she added.