Family members of D Dinesh, 26, who was shot dead by police in Ampang last month, are insisting that the case be classified as murder.

NONE According to their lawyer N Surendran, this is because the family fears that an inquest into the death will merely be a cover-up.

Instead, Surendran said, the family wants the police officer who shot Dinesh to be suspended and for action to be taken under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder.

These demands are in a memorandum handed over by the deceased's father W Darmasena to police secretariat (public relations) assistant head Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf at the police headquarters in Bukit Aman today.

Ramli also informed the family that police investigation into the shooting has been concluded and the investigation papers sent to the Attorney-General's Chambers.

He told six of the family members present today that an inquest into Dinesh's death would be carried out, in spite of their request.

'Cause of death not a mystery'

Speaking to reporters later, Surendran said the family rejected the police justification for an inquest, saying it is not needed since Dinesh did not die mysteriously.

NONE “There are (elements) of murder in this case and the perpetrator can be charged in open court, not through an inquest. The officer (who shot Dinesh) should be charged with murder.

“The inquest is just to cover-up the case... The family rejects the inquest,” Surendran added, urging inspector-general of police Ismail Omar to explain what happened on the night.

Also present was PKR legal bureau chief Latheefa Koya and PKR MPs Sivarasa Rasiah (Subang), Tian Chua (Batu) and S Manickavasagam (Kapar).

Dinesh was shot in the head and arm near Ampang Waterfront in the wee hours of Aug 21 and he died at Ampang Hospital two days later.

His friends who witnessed the shooting claimed he was not armed and that the plainclothes police did not identify themselves before shooting at least 10 rounds of ammunitions in a “haywire” manner.

But police claim Dinesh was a gang member and was part of a 14-car convoy travelling to Pandan Perdana to resume a gang fight that erupted there hours earlier.

They also claimed that the car Dinesh was in tried to rear-end a police car, after which four men exited from Dinesh's car and attacked the police car with parangs and iron rods.

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