A coroner's inquest to determine the identity of a highly decomposed body fished out of the Klang river will resume tomorrow at the Kuala Lumpur magistrate's court.

The inquest - which will enter its third day - has been called after G Sara Lily claimed that the body was that of her 24-year-old son, missing police detainee G Francis Udayappan ( left ).

She alleged that her son was beaten and thrown into the river by Brickfields police personnel. But the police have ruled out any foul play.

Instead, they claimed that Francis had escaped from the district police headquarters on April 16 by jumping into the river, which flows next to the building.

On May 23, the police recovered a body from the river, which Sara positively identified as Francis based on a tattoo and tooth deformity but a subsequent DNA test conducted by the police did not reveal a match between the two.

Francis, arrested on suspicion of theft, is still classified as a missing person while the body fished out from the river remains unclaimed at the University Malaya Medical Centre's morgue.

The Attorney-General's Chambers later called on for a judicial inquest to determine the identity of the body.

High Court ruling

Magistrate Nazran Mohd Sam - sitting as a coroner - held two inquiries on Aug 10 and 11. He has heard statements from two police witnesses thus far.

The matter was then adjourned following an application by Sara's lawyer M Puravalen to the High Court to overturn a decision by Nazran not to allow the lawyers to examine witnesses.

The High Court on Aug 19 overruled the coroner's decision and stipulated that Puravelan had a right to question the witnesses and study evidence presented by the Deputy Public Prosecutor at the inquest.

The inquest is expected to continue with evidence from police witnesses tomorrow.

Sara tried to conduct an independent DNA test to ascertain the identity of the body but the move has been thwarted by red tapes .