A young man has been charged with the murder of his parents, who were allegedly beaten to death in a bizarre ritual to rid them of a smoking habit and illnesses, reports said today.

The 19-year-old man was charged in court yesterday along with his two cousins, aged 21 and 23, over the death of the couple earlier this month during a family get-together in Kuala Lumpur.

The three accused did not enter a plea and will undergo a month's psychiatric evaluation, The New Straits Times said.

Police have said that the attack took place after Mohamed Ibrahim Kader Mydin, 47, told his relatives that he was trying to quit smoking, and that his wife Rosina Mydin Pillay, 41, was suffering from asthma and a liver ailment.

Several family members then allegedly took part in a ritual in which they smashed the couple's heads on a table and assaulted them with crash helmets and brooms.

Newspaper reports said some of the family members had joined an Islamic cult.

-AFP