Counsel N. Surendran speaks to the family of S. Balamurugan at the High Court in Shah Alam February 15, 2017. — Bernama pic

PUTRAJAYA, June 7 — Police officers made several derogatory remarks about S. Balamurugan in a WhatsApp group chat hours before his death, a public hearing was told today.

The contents of the WhatsApp group chat were raised during the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC)’s public hearing, which saw the police officers referring to Balamurugan as a dying “keling”.

“Keling ini macam mana boss? Dia macam nak mampus,” a police officer remarked in the group chat.

Subsequently, there was another message by a police officer saying that Balamurugan was trembling.

Police officer Mohd Luqmanul Hakim Mukhtar then replied, “Kasi dia Carlsberg lah, confirm dia ok!” (Give him a drink of Carlsberg, he’ll be fine!).

When quizzed by Bar Council lawyer R. Sivaraj, Luqmanul explained that he was simply joking.

“I was just joking. I knew Balamurugan was a daily drinker.”

At the same time, Klang Utara CID chief ASP Norasnizam Nordin said that such remarks were inappropriate in an official work group chat, which he had since acted on.

“I took action and I emphasised that this is an official group chat, no jokes are allowed.”

Meanwhile, Luqmanul also revealed that Balamurugan had been a police informant for six years prior to his arrest.

Luqmanul said they first met in 2011 when he had falsely arrested Balamurugan for car theft.

“He was a car repossessor and I thought he was stealing cars. But there was no offence.

“Ever since then, I would give him a call if I needed certain information on car theft cases,” he said.

Luqmanul was also present in the same interrogation room at the Bandar Baru Klang police station where Balamurugan, K. Tamilarasan and juvenile Ang Kian Kok were held.

He denied that physical violence had taken place during the interrogation, stressing that only verbal questioning had been employed.

“No canes or pipes were used to hit the detainees. There were only questions asked in Tamil.”

T. Mohaneswaran, a police officer attached to the Serious Crime Unit (D9) from the Klang Selatan police headquarters, maintained that he only spoken loudly to Balamurugan.

He denied the allegations made by Tamilarasan and Ang, where they said that they witnessed Mohaneswaran as the sole police officer who physically abused the trio during the interrogation.

“I raised my voice but it was not as loud as mentioned by the others.

“I’m not sure why they said that. I did not shout at them. Those were all lies,” he said.

Yesterday, Tamilarasan told the public hearing that he was beaten with a bamboo stick and an orange hose pipe, while Balamurugan had suffered repeated slaps, kicks and punches by the police during the interrogation session.

He quoted Mohaneswaran as telling Balamurugan: “Outside, you’re the head. But, inside, I am the head”.

The EAIC public hearing today was to investigate the case of deceased S. Balamurugan, who died in custody on February 7 after suffering alleged multiple beatings from officers attached to the Bandar Baru Klang police station.