Coroner's Court postpones inquest decision over inmate's death

The Coroner’s Court has postponed the inquest decision into the death of Kajang Prison inmate Roopan Karnagaran, 25, who allegedly died under suspicious circumstances on June 21, 2021.

Roopan’s family lawyer, T Shashi Deva, said the court is still reviewing the evidence.

“The inquest decision has been postponed. This is because the court is still reviewing the evidence,” Shashi told reporters at the Shah Alam High Court Complex today.

He added that the court would set a new date shortly.

Roopan (above) was one of two individuals arrested in 2017 for their alleged involvement in three murders that occurred in 2013 when he was 17 years old.

Initially, Roopan was not considered a suspect until police found his DNA at the crime scenes four years later.

The High Court subsequently found him guilty in 2020 and he appealed to the Court of Appeal, with a hearing scheduled for June 29, 2021.

Heart infection or Covid-19?

However, on June 17 of the same year, his family received a call that Roopan had been sent to Kajang Hospital due to breathing difficulties.

On June 19, his family was informed that Roopan had a heart infection and needed to be admitted to the ward for five to six days.

Two days later he was discharged from the hospital.

After leaving the hospital, Roopan was reported to have lost consciousness around 11.30am while in a segregation room at Kajang Prison.

He was then rushed back to Kajang Hospital and was pronounced dead at 12pm - about an hour and a half before his family called the hospital to request a visit.

His family was only informed of his death around 2pm.

When the family later visited the mortuary, a police inspector reportedly told them that Roopan had tested positive for Covid-19, which they said was contrary to what the hospital had previously reported.

Kajang Hospital later confirmed that Roopan was positive for Covid-19.

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