POLICE have been asked to tighten up their investigation on independent preacher Muhammad Zamri Vinoth Abdullah before any action can be taken against him for allegedly insulting Hindu gods.

Bukit Aman Inspector-General of Police (Secretariat) Corporate Communications head Asmawati Ahmad said the Attorney General’s Chambers had also returned to the cops the investigation papers on Zamri, a well-known associate of controversial Muslim preacher Zakir Naik.

Asmawati told The Malaysian Insight that the AGC has handed back the investigation papers (IP) to police and asked them to record more statements from possible witnesses.

“The AGC has returned the IP back to the cops. There are several matters that police need to do as suggested by the AGC.

“The IP was given back as we need to tighten up our probe into this matter,” Asmawati said.

When contacted, Hindu activist Arun Dorasamy said the cops in Bukit Aman told him that they will have to get a few more statements from witnesses before the IP can be re-submitted to the AGC.

“We were told that the cops need more statement from witnesses before Zamri can be charged. The instruction came from the AGC,” Arun said.

Last week, Arun made a press release saying that police are to interview two more witnesses.

Following his comments, Bukit Aman CID director Huzir Mohamed told The Malaysian Insight that Arun has no authorisation to comment on the status of the investigation.

“He has no authority to make the statement,” Huzir said when asked about Arun’s claim that the deputy public prosecutor has returned the IP to police. 

Zamri, a 35-year-old Hindu who converted to Islam, was arrested in late April after 800 police reports were lodged against him. He was released after a four-day remand period.

He is under investigation for disrupting harmony and transmitting offensive communications under Section 298A of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

He allegedly insulted Hinduism during a religious lecture. A Kelantanese organisation called Info Sunnah released the video of his speech on social media.

Zamri, who also heads the Muslim propagation organisation One Centre Malaysia, was arrested by Kangar serious crime unit and brought to Bukit Aman to be remanded.

It was reported that Zamri had previously been investigated for three crimes, two being serious offences.

He was previously detained for voluntarily causing hurt, rape and criminal breach of trust. – May 16, 2019.