R. Muniandy giving a farewell kiss to his daughter Vasanthapiriya during the wake in their home at Kampung Tong Hai, Nibong Tebal, Penang, February 1, 2018. — Picture by KE Ooi

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 12 — Penang police chief Datuk A. Thaiveegan today said investigations have yet to establish if it was indeed M. Vasanthapiriya who stole her teacher’s iPhone.

Thaiveegan was commenting on a report by the New Straits Times yesterday that cited police sources and named Vasanthapiriya as the culprit who took the phone, based on the school’s CCTV footage.

He said police are still unable to verify the footage due to the quality of the video.

"We need the forensics expert to further enhance to see who it is. So until then we cannot comment.

“At the moment whatever people write, or even speak about it, cannot be confirmed,”he told reporters when met after a seminar here.

Thaiveegan said that Vasanthapiriya’s friends, family members as well as her school teachers were also called to verify the CCTV footage.

To date, he said police have summoned almost 30 witnesses to facilitate investigations into the case.

Vasanthapiriya hanged herself in her room in the evening of January 24 after her teacher allegedly accused her of stealing her handphone.

The student left a suicide note denying that she had stolen the handphone.

She was found unconscious and was comatose in the intensive care unit of the Seberang Jaya Hospital before she passed away at 3.30am on February 1.

She was laid to rest at the Hindu burial grounds in Jalan Changkat, Nibong Tebal on February 2.