COMMENT | It is going to be more than two weeks since the tragic death of S Pravin, but the police are yet to come up with a conclusive report on the actual cause of his death.

The autopsy done a week after his death contains no evidence of foul play. The police are still under the impression that he could have committed suicide. According to the police, his close friend had said that Pravin committed suicide due to love failure with another school mate.

It was said to be due to this reason that on April 26, 2017, that Pravin, who stopped schooling in March, allegedly bough a mineral water bottle containing a bluish liquid that he consumed after having walked into a nearby rubber plantation.

The above account, in the absence of other available evidence, would have easily convinced the police that all evidence points in the direction of Pravin taking his own life out of love failure.

However, there is another side to the case. Moments before Pravin died in the Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital in Seremban, unable to talk, he scribbled some notes to his father, M Selvaraja, to be handed over to the police. In the notes, he said that he was pinned down by a group of students and forced to drink a bluish liquid.

The scribbled notes by Pravin to the police have added a new dimension to the police investigation. Nilai OCPD Supt Zaldin Zaludin might have to go beyond the preliminary findings that Pravin committed suicide.

I have written about this matter a few times. Pravin might well have committed suicide if the police are going to rely on their eyewitnesses. But then, the ‘scribbled notes’ provide powerful evidence that the police must consider and investigate as to whether Pravin committed suicide or if he was murdered.

My question is, why would Pravin, in his last dying moments in the hospital, take the courage to reveal what could have transpired. Remember he could not talk, but decided nonetheless, however painful, to put down something in black and white before he died.

I am sure the police would have no difficulty in identifying those students, if they had indeed forced Pravin to drink the poison. Who were these students, were they his former classmates, or simply outsiders dressed in school attire?

The father refuses to believe that his son died simply due to love failure. He also thinks that the police must investigate the incident thoroughly, before reaching any conclusions.

The father, a rubber tapper who is relying on the support services provided by a local state assemblyperson, cannot simply accept the death of his son. His son might not have been a good or responsible one, but the fact remains that he was his flesh and blood. He wants the police to do a thorough investigation.

The police must do their job and ensure justice is done for Pravin and his family. The quest for justice for the poor and the underprivileged must not be in vain.

P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai.

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