INVESTIGATIONS into the murder of Cradle Fund chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan has temporarily ground to a halt due to a delay in the second post-mortem report, said Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun.

Police cannot go any further without the results, the IGP said in Kuching, Sarawak, today.

“We want to expedite the investigations. Everyone is asking for updates on the case,” Fuzi said.

“So, we just have to be patient and wait for the report.

“It’s (the delay), definitely, affecting investigations.”

The IGP said the post-mortem report does not fall under the police’s purview.

Nazrin died in a fire in his room at his Mutiara Damansara home in Petaling Jaya on Hari Raya eve last year.

It was initially reported that the fire that killed him was caused by a mobile phone that exploded while it was being charging next to his bed.

Police however, reclassified his death as murder after Fire and Rescue Department forensic investigators found traces of petrol on Nazrin’s body.

Several people, including Nazrin’s wife, Samirah Muzaffar, and close relatives were detained for investigations and later released on bail.

Police on October 1 applied for a court order to exhume Nazrin’s body from the Section 9 Muslim Cemetery in Kota Damansara where he was buried for a second post-mortem to be conducted.

The exhumation was conducted on October 8 and the remains were taken to the University Malaya Medical Centre for the second post-mortem.

Nazri’s widow had tried to block the exhumation but her application was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

A three-man bench, chaired by Mohtarudin Baki, dismissed Samirah’s application on grounds that her application had no merit and upheld an order issued by the High Court on October 4 allowing the police to exhume the body.

Mohtarudin, however, allowed Samirah’s application for a forensic pathologist appointed by her to be present during the second post-mortem. – January 7, 2019.