Lawyer: Post-mortem shows Ganapathy died of injuries while in custody

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The lawyer for the family of cow milk trader A Ganapathy, who died while in police custody, has stated the death was a result of injuries on his legs and shoulders.

K Ganesh was reported as saying that a doctor from Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s Pathology Department informed Ganapathy’s family about the findings of the autopsy on Wednesday.

“We were told he died of severe injuries on his legs,” Ganesh said, adding that the police officer investigating Ganapathy’s death was also present when the findings were revealed to the family.

B Nantha Kumar/Malaysiakini

“Now that it is confirmed by the autopsy report that his death was due to the beatings, we will get to the bottom of this.”

The lawyer said the family is still awaiting the full autopsy report, despite being told of its findings

“The autopsy took eight hours on the day of his death. Today, we are told of its findings but have yet to receive the report,” he said.

According to the police report filed by Ganapathy’s mother, S Thanaletchumy, 60, on March 11, her son had been arrested on February 24 to assist the police in the investigation into one of his brothers.

B Nantha Kumar/Malaysiakini

In the report, she claimed that Ganapathy was in relatively good health at the time of his arrest, despite a medical history of heart problems and diabetes.

Ganesh said in the 12 days Ganapathy was in custody, he asked to be and was sent to Selayang Hospital four times for treatment.

On March 8, Thanaletchumy and her family were contacted by the police and informed that Ganapathy had been released and had been admitted to Selayang Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

During his stay, Ganapathy was confirmed to have kidney problems, and his leg had to be amputated as well.

Thanaletchumy’s report also claimed that her son had been beaten during his time in custody, which resulted in the amputation.

She also claimed Ganapathy had told her that he was beaten with a rubber hose by the police. His family claimed the deceased’s health deteriorated as a result of the beatings, and that his legs were swollen and bruised as though he had been beaten.

On April 18, Ganapathy died at Selayang Hospital, just over a month after he was first warded. He leaves behind two children aged five and seven.

Ganesh said Ganapathy’s family will sue the police and Selayang hospital over alleged negligence, which resulted in his death.

Politicians and civil society groups have called for a transparent probe into the custodial death, saying there were far too many such cases.