THE family of a woman who went missing after a police shootout at the outskirts of Rawang in September 2019 have yet to hear any news of her.

They said the police should be forthcoming on the matter by saying if Moganambal Govindasamy is still alive or has been shot dead as well on that night.

Moganambal, a United Kingdom permanent resident, was with three men in a car – her Sri Lankan husband and UK permanent resident Janarthanan Vijayaratnam, her brother Thavaselvan and Maghendran Santhirasegaran – at Jalan Batu Arang on September 14, 2019 when they were involved in a shootout with police.

The men were shot dead but Moganambal was nowhere to be found.

Moganambal’s sister G. Vasanthi said the family wanted the police to come clean on what had happened at the shooting spot, and if Moganambal was there as well.

Vasanthi said Moganambal, 35 at that time, had simply vanished on September 14.

“Moganambal was in the car with the three men and she just went missing. The police have not given us a clear explanation of what had happened,” she told The Malaysian Insight.

“She is not even mentioned in the ongoing inquest over the shooting of the three men at Shah Alam Sessions Court.

“The inquest is only on the shooting of the three men,” she added.

Vasanthi said the police told the family that they were treating Moganambal’s case as a missing person’s case.

“But we want to know where she has gone. Did she go missing after the shootout, or even before that?

“We want to know if she is still alive or was killed in the shootout.”

She said the police must also clarify the truth as previously, an unknown police officer had informed the family on the day of the incident that Moganambal had been arrested.

Vasanthi also questioned the police’s accusation that Moganambal’s husband had prior criminal cases.

“How can that be? He had just returned to Malaysia from the UK with his young family. How can he have prior break-in records?”

The couple had returned to Malaysia on August 27, 2019 with their three children after residing in the UK for six years, she added.

“We can only hope for some justice from the ongoing inquest,” she said.

After the shootout, the police had claimed they were involved in a 7km high-speed car chase early that morning after the men refused to pull over near a suburb in Rawang.

They said one of the suspects had opened fire on them, forcing them to shoot back in self-defence, after they assumed they were robbers.

Later, they said Thavaselvan and Maghendran were wanted members of the 08 gang in Rawang, while Janatharnan had overstayed his visa – claims which their families denied.

Selangor police chief Noor Azam Jamaluddin also denied that there was a woman in the car but opened a missing person’s case to investigate the alleged disappearance.

Selangor CID chief Fadzil Ahmad told The Malaysian Insight that all parties involved, including police officers and rank-and-file personnel, would be called to testify at the inquest.

“The woman is still being investigated as a missing person. We have no new information.

“The shooting case, meanwhile, is now under inquest,” he said. – January 9, 2021.