A coalition of eight groups today urged the police commission to investigate their allegations of police colluding with the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC).

In a joint memorandum to the commission, the groups alleged that the UMMC, which is a semi-private teaching facility for UM medical students, withheld vital information from the family of deceased detainee G Francis Udayapan.

The eight groups, which includes the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) youth wing, Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim), Police Watch and Human Righs Committee, Hindu Consultative Council, Action Committee Against Custodial Death and Police Shootings, Klang Action Committee and the Indian Consultative Council presented the memorandum to the commission this morning.

The memorandum was received by commissioners Abdul Kadir Jasin and Denison Jayasooria.

In the memorandum, the groups alleged that the hospital authorities were subservient to the police and did not act professionally.

Unethical, unprofessional

According to the memorandum, the Francis' family had pleaded with the hospital authorities and the police to release the post-mortem report.

The family was also unable to obtain a sample of the deceased to conduct an independent DNA test, as well as being unable to carry out a second post-mortem.

"The University Hospital had refused to allow the requests unless with the consent of the police. The hospital authorities are discarding their ethical and professional values, they have admitted to the family and solicitors that they blindly take orders from the police," it read in the memorandum.

Francis was a VCD seller who was detained at the Brickfields police station for investigation into a theft case on April 16.

However, the police claimed that Francis later escaped by jumping off the first floor of the station, squeezing past a fence, and jumping into the nearby river near the station.

The family members disputed the police version of the story, instead alleging that Francis was killed while in police custody and his body later thrown into the river.

Thirty seven days after the Francis' alleged escape, a decomposed body was found in the Klang river on May 23, which his mother G Sara Lily was able to identify based on the tattoos and a tooth deformity.

However, the police insisted that Sara Lily provided a DNA test which she was later told did not match that of the deceased.

Probe Mageswaran case

Meanwhile, the groups also demanded the commission to probe the controversial circumstances surrounding the death of R Mageswaran , who was alleged to have committed suicide in the Petaling Jaya district police station.

In the memorandum, several questions were raised which the groups felt warranted answers.

"It is impossible to believe that Mageswaran would have chosen the toilet of a police station in order to hang himself. Furthermore, there was no ligature marks on the neck of the deceased, which would be impossible in a case of death by hanging," it said in the memorandum.

The groups also reminded the commission that all inquiries should be conducted in an open manner and that regular updates should be provided for families of the victims.