Twenty-four-year-old labourer R Janaratan was shot dead in an argument that erupted following a car accident in Cameron Highlands three years ago.

His family is now seeking more than RM1.7 million in damages from the director-general of the civilian defence corp Rela, the government and three other parties for 'vicarious liability'.

At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today, the deceased's brother R Murali Balan, 28, and their father, K Ramasamy, 58, said the suit filed with the Temerloh High Court on May 8 also named Rela member Fong Weng Fu, 51, the Pahang Rela director-general and home minister as defendants.

Fong, a farmer, is currently facing trial at the Ipoh High Court under Section 302 of the Penal Code for the alleged murder of Janaratan on Dec 26, 2003 following the accident involving the deceased, his brother and Fong.

Fong is alleged to have fatally shot Janaratan and wounded Murali Balan, who is also a Rela member, with a shot gun when the brothers threatened to file a police report over the accident.

Fong, who was with his sister at the time of the incident, however, claimed that he acted in self-defense when the duo allegedly tried to attack him.

Meanwhile, the Temerloh High Court set Oct 5 for case management.

In their writ of summons, copies of which were made available to the media, Murali and his father are claiming damages from the authorities for alleged negligence in granting Fong, whom they described as 'incompetent', membership in Rela.

They also blamed the authorities for Fong's 'unreasonable actions' and his possession and discharging of a firearm.

Why issue firearms?

At the press conference this afternoon, their lawyer A Sivanesan said his clients were pursuing the civil suit in order to prevent such incidents from happening to other individuals and families.

Murali Balan, who runs a workshop in Cameron Highlands, also showed reporters the injuries he sustained to his upper body due to the gunshot ( picture ).

As for the compensation sought, RM76,739 is for the medical expenses incurred to treat Murali as well as for loss of income for a period of one year following the incident.

The remaining amount is for, among others, funeral expenses, loss of dependency, bereavement as well as general, exemplary and special damages.

"Weapons should not be given to Rela members. I don't want my suffering to happen to other families," Murali said.

Citing news reports where Rela members discharged their weapons outside their official duties, Sivanesan said it was time the government imposed strict controls on the issuance and use of firearms.

Questioning the need for Rela members to be issued firearms, he said even police and military officers have to return their weapons at the end of their daily official duties.

This, however, does not seem to be the case with Rela, he claimed. "They (the government) cannot say that such incidents are out of their control," he added.

Last April, Rela was ordered to pay RM130,000 in damages to a settler in Negeri Sembilan who was wounded by a stray bullet fired by a Rela member.

In the incident six years ago, Mohd Noor Pilus was hit in the leg on his way home from work as Rela members were shooting pests in the area.