THE Kuala Lumpur High Court today awarded RM338,000 to the family of custodial death victim Balamurugan Suppiah who died in custody at the Klang Utara district police headquarters in 2017.

Lawyers for Liberty said in a statement that Justice Su Tiang Joo granted the award during today’s hearing for the assessment of damages.

Balamurugan was under police custody that time for investigations under Section 395/397 of the Penal Code for gang robbery and armed robbery.

He was found dead in the lock-up bleeding at his mouth on Feb 8, 2017. A day earlier, he had vomited blood when he was taken to the magistrate’s court for a remand hearing.

Balamurugan’s family had filed the legal action against the police and the government for negligence, assault and battery, false imprisonment and breach of statutory duty for his death while in custody.

“The deceased was discovered with 20 visible injuries, and the pathologist concluded that the cause of death was ‘coronary artery disease with multiple blunt force injuries’.

“On Aug 30, 2022, the Kuala Lumpur High Court found the police and the government liable for the death of the deceased and ordered for damages to be assessed separately,” it said.

The court awarded RM100,000 in general damages, RM200,000 in aggravated damages, RM16,000 in special damages and RM22,000 in costs.

The family was represented by Zaid Malek and Nabila Khairuddin while Senior Federal Counsel Nur Ezdiani Roleb and Federal Counsel Afiq Nazrin Zaharinan appeared for the respondents.

In January 2018, investigations by the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) on the death of Balamurugan, 44, while in police custody revealed a serious breach of the police’s standard operating procedures (SOP). 

EAIC chairman A. Aziz A. Rahim had said the public hearing involving 46 witnesses in Balamurugan’s death found several serious non-compliance with the SOP, including the failure of the police to release the man after a remand application was rejected by the magistrate’s court.

Initial post-mortem by Dr Kartini Md Ariff at Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah in Klang revealed that Balamurugan could have died from a heart attack.

However, the deceased’s next-of-kin were unhappy with the results and requested a second post-mortem.

Forensic Medicine consultant Dr Siew Sheue Feng, who performed the second post-mortem on Balamurugan at Hospital Kuala Lumpur, was reported as saying that the 20 injuries on Balamurugan’s abdomen, head and limbs were due to blunt force trauma and done with the intention to cause pain. – 30 Mei, 2024.