Six men charged with murder of Malaysian DPP

Six men were charged with murdering Deputy Public Prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais. Army doctor R. Kunaseegaran (right) was charged with abetting the murder. PHOTO: THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

KUALA LUMPUR • Six men have been charged with murdering Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Anthony Kevin Morais, while an army doctor and a mechanic were charged with abetting the murder.

The six men - G. Gunasegaran, 47; R. Dineshwaran, 23; Thinesh Kumar, 22; M. Viswanath, 25; S. Nirmalan, 22; and S. Ravi Chandran, 44 - allegedly committed the offence between 7am and 9pm somewhere along Jalan Dutamas Raya in Sentul and Jalan USJ 1/6D in Subang Jaya on Sept 4.

Army pathologist, Colonel R. Kunaseegaran, 48, was yesterday charged with abetting the murder under Section 109 of the Penal Code in the same court.

The seven suspects face the death penalty if convicted.

Magistrate Siti Radziah Kamardin fixed Nov 30 for mention pending the post-mortem and chemist reports.

The prosecution team was led by DPP Abdul Razak, Mr Manoj Kurup and Mr Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar.

Defence counsel M. Manoharan represented Dineshwaran while Dato N. Sivananthan and Dato Geethan Ram Vincent appeared for Kunaseegaran.

The other five accused were unrepresented.

Also present at the court were Mr Morais' brothers, Mr Charles Suresh Morais and Dato Richard Dilaan Morais.

In Petaling Jaya, a mechanic was charged at the magistrate's court there with abetting Mr Morais' murder.

A. Murugan Arujalan, 44, who was clad in a grey short-sleeved shirt, nodded when asked if he understood. No plea was recorded.

Magistrate Ahmad Solihin Abd Wahid set the next mention date for Nov 26 pending the post-mortem and chemist reports.

DPP Ishak Mohd Yusoff said the two reports should be ready in about two weeks.

Mr Morais went missing on Sept 4 after leaving his residence in Menara Duta for work in Putrajaya. He was in a grey Proton Perdana.

He was allegedly abducted by several men following a fender bender in Jalan Dutamas during morning rush hour traffic.

A DNA test performed on a body found in a cement-filled oil drum on Sept 16 matched that of Mr Morais.

The police had earlier said that Mr Morais was the DPP in the case where the military doctor was charged with unlawful trade in December 2013.

In September last year, the doctor had claimed trial to two bribery charges involving RM700,000 (S$228,000) for allegedly recommending three companies to supply medicine and disposable medical tools to Tuanku Mizan Military Hospital, the Malaysian Insider reported.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 29, 2015, with the headline Six men charged with murder of Malaysian DPP. Subscribe