T. PREVIIN, one of the two teenage victims of a vicious assault last week, has found himself on the receiving end of “unsolicited” attention while warded in the Penang Hospital.

Previin, who escaped with injuries while his friend has been declared braindead after being beaten unconscious, has been getting calls from strangers offering him help, his uncle MGR Devan said.

“He gets calls from numbers he doesn’t know. Just this morning, two or three people called.

“Some claimed they just wanted to help him or they have something for him; asking him for family details and other questions.

“The boy feels very uneasy about it. When we called up one of the numbers that reached him, there was no answer,” the 57-year-old artist told reporters at the hospital.

Devan, who is Previin’s paternal uncle, said the family feared for the boy’s safety and planned to report the callers to the police.

“It is because we don’t know who they are, if they are good or bad people. We also worry about getting unknown visitors looking for Previin at the hospital,” he said.

Devan said the incident was just shocking to the whole country.

Previin is being cared for by his uncles and aunts while his father works in Kuala Lumpur and his mother, in Australia.

A friend of the boy’s father, RK Asokan said the suspicious phone calls began after someone posted Previin’s mobile phone number on Facebook a few days ago.

“They say they want to give donation. But after all that has happened, we are worried.

“We don’t know if they are sincere. Some people may tell you they want to help you so they can get to you,” he said.

Previin, according to police, has been helpful in the probe into the assault. He helped identify the attackers, which led to the arrest of five boys aged 17 and 18.

Although he managed to escape the brunt of the assault, Previin suffered injuries. Devan said the boy needed surgery later this week for a broken bone under his right eye.

Previin, though still in pain, was well enough to relate what happened that night to reporters.

He said he and his friend, whom he has known since childhood, had gone to a burger stall, where they ran into and were harassed by two teens they were acquainted with.

Previin said he might have made them angry when he stood up to defend his friend, who had gone to school with the two, who had bullied him then.

The duo called up some friends and the group of them attacked Previin and his friend with motorcycle helmets.

Because Previin managed to escape to get help from his friend’s uncle, he could only tell half the tale. When he returned to the scene, both his friend and the attackers were gone.

“He couldn’t fight them. He is a soft, gentle person,” he said of his friend.

By the time his friend was sent to the Penang Hospital by the brother of one of the suspects, he was already unconscious. Doctors have told the family that boy was in a coma and injuries were also found on his genitals and anus.

Previin said he visited his friend at the intensive care unit yesterday.

Asked if the family of the attackers had approached him with an apology, he said: “They won’t come here”, adding that he had nothing to say to them anyway.

“I don’t know the boys well. We went to different schools. I just know who they are,” he said.

Previin was earlier visited by Penang health exco Dr Afif Bahardin and Seri Delima assemblyman RSN Rayer.

Rayer said he and Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh were helping Previin and his friend’s family with whatever they needed during this difficult time.

This morning, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state hoped stern action would be taken.

“I have asked Rayer and Ramkarpal to offer the necessary assistance to the victims. We will see what we can do to ensure justice is done,” he said. – June 14, 2017.