Death of justice in UMNO police custody“No One Killed Ahmad Sarbani, Teoh Beng Hock 'A Kugan Aminulrasyid'.,Kunasekaran, Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra, , M Krishnan and K Sivam”

Aminulrasyid Amzah, 14 -

the Attorney-General is bonking one of his Directors. And know what? Not only has nothing been done about it but he is still bonking her until today in spite of everyone knowing about it.

The umno government has to answer a simple question: if the government is sure that no politician, bureaucrat and judge is corrupt, why fear ? Precisely because it is not sure, it is unable and unwilling to do so. This is giving enough fodder for people to fast against corruption.

Mahatir also argues that UMNO has a monster, eat up Parliament, Judiciary and Government, that it can't be supreme to all of these while not being accountable itself. Civil society’s intent is perfect but it has unfortunately fed into this argument – it hasn’t worked out the finer points of accountability of – some sort of judicial review of its orders are possible – but that’s not solid, not as much as Parliament, Judiciary and Government being subject to Constitution.

If civil society can ensure umno accountability to the people, just as it is asking the three arms to be accountable to people too, if it can convince the country that umno will not be superior but equal to the three arms and that it can be called into question by people, represented by Parliament or any other representative institutional body, fears ofumno or any other government at the Centre would have to thin.

No one can disagree with the pragmatic demands of civil society – declare assets, books the corrupt, hold the highest institutions accountable including the highest office of the land. How to make them accountable, which agency will do so and how to make that agency accountable is at the centre of the present anti-corruption movement.“So why bother?” many may ask. Well, our job is just to reveal the truth whether anything is done about it or not. We even reveal the misconduct of the opposition although we get vilified and are called traitors and are accused of being bought off.It is what we do -- never mind how unpopular that makes us. And if you don’t like it, tough! That’s your problem, not mine.Talking about corruption, I still remember back in the 1980s when I spoke to the Deputy IGP, Tun Haniff Omar’s number two, about corruption in the police force and he said that if they want to eradicate corruption they would have to sack 97% of the police force.I did not ask Tan Sri Amin whether he is in the 3% or the 97%. also remember back in the 1990s when the Director of ACA Terengganu named Zainal launched corruption investigations against senior government officers and Umno leaders. It appeared like 100% of these people, Menteri Besar Wan Mokhtar Ahmad included, were going to be sent to jail.Wan Mokhtar called Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Zainal was transferred within 24 hours.

So, yes, there are some good and dedicated Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA, now called MACC) officers. But then if they were to do the job they have been entrusted to do they would suffer persecution, 24-hour transfers, sent into ‘cold storage’ and whatnot. So it is not worth doing your job. Better, as one Member of Parliament said: you ‘close one eye’.Closing two eyes plus your mouth and ears as well may be even better. Then you would go far.So whom do people turn to when they are unhappy and distrust the very institutions that are supposed to be the trustees of the public? To the police? Pleeeeeez! To the MACC? What? And get thrown out of the window?Luckily lawyer Rosli Dahlan was detained overnight in the MACC lockup in Putrajaya, which is underground. If not he would have also been found dead on the ground floor.Can you imagine the newspaper headlines the next day if Rosli had died?“Lawyer Rosli Dahlan was found dead on the ground floor of the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya. Rosli was suspected to have jumped out of MACC’s underground lockup and landed on the ground floor.”Yes, as in the movie 'Ghost Buster', whom do you call? The Police? MACC? No, you call the Ghost Busters! You contact Malaysia Today. You come to Malaysia Today to ask that the truth be told.And so it is with regards to the MACC. Those in the Royal Malaysian Customs Department have no one to turn to. They don’t trust the PDRM. They don’t trust the MACC. But they trust Malaysia Today. So they have asked Malaysia Today to let truth be told. And that is what we are going to do.So stay tuned and tomorrow we shall tell you part two of the story “Ahmad Sarbani’s death: the lies and deceptions by the MACC”, a story that will shock you.Just when you thought it is safe to go into the water, as they said in the movie ‘Jaws’. That’s right, there are many sharks in Malaysia. But not all sharks swim in the water. Many sharks walk on two feet. And many sharks wear uniforms. And many sharks are under the protection of Umno.In fact, many of these sharks are actually instruments of those who walk in the corridors of power. They are instruments to take down those critical of the government. They are tools used to silence dissent.And what worries those who walk in the corridors of power is that many who work for the government no longer trust the government but trust Malaysia Today more. And that is why they come to Malaysia Today to tell their story. And this is why they want Malaysia Today to reveal what they told us.Deep Throat in the Customs Department told us. Abu Kassim was the Deputy Chief Commissioner of the MACC when Teoh Beng Hock died in custody in 2009. When news first broke about what they are trying to mislead us and classify as ‘suicide’, the then Selangor MACC Director, Hishamudin Hashim, panicked and ran to Abu Kassim to get ‘further instructions’.

Teoh Beng Hock in happier times

The Teoh Beng Hock Royal Commission of Inquiry (TBH RCI) has since found damning evidence of lies and manipulation of facts by the MACC to cover up what had transpired at that time -- including the revelation that MACC officers have the habit of watching pornography in the office.

To divert public attention from this damning evidence, on 1st April 2011, Abu Kassim, who by now was the MACC Chief Commissioner, launched a nationwide blitz against the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (Jabatan Kastam) by sensationalising the 'news' that Customs officers had colluded with hundreds of freight forwarders to fleece the government of RM108 billion in tax revenues.

Things went terribly wrong for the MACC when, on 6th April at about 11.00am, Customs Deputy Director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed was found dead, thrown out of the third floor of the brand new MACC office building at Jalan Cochrane in Kuala Lumpur. 

Police officers removing Ahmad Sarbani's body from MACC's KL Office

The MACC Director of Investigations, Datuk Mustafar Ali, gave an immediate press statement that evening that Ahmad Sarbani had come to the MACC office voluntarily and without an appointment.

MACC Investigations Director Dato’ Mutafar Ali justifying the Customs officer’s death at the MACC office 

Malaysia Today has now received a report from ‘Deep Throats’ within the MACC as well as within the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) that Datuk Mustafar’s statement was a lie and calculated to deny the fact that Ahmad Sarbani died in MACC’s custody, just like what happened to Teoh Beng Hock.

This is what Malaysia Today’s Deep Throat in the MACC said:

“The MACC’s leadership cannot be trusted. They lied and tried to cover up Teoh Beng Hock’s death. And now they are doing the same again in Ahmad Sarbani’s death.”

The MACC needed something sensational that can overshadow its battered reputation in the TBH RCI. They lied to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak by saying that widespread corruption by the Royal Malaysian Customs had caused the government to suffer tax losses of RM108 billion.

That got Najib excited. You see, Malaysia is going broke and Najib needed that revenue very badly and he thought that this was one way for the country to ‘earn money’.

The Selangor part of the investigation is coordinated by its Director, Yusof Akope, and his deputy, Mohd Fauzi. The Senior Investigating Officer (S.I.O.) for this case is Abdul Ghani.

However, instead of conducting fair and unbiased investigations and telling the truth, these three concocted unverified intelligence to support the MACC HQ’s plan to make the allegations of the loss of RM108 billion believable.

They must have learned this from the CIA, which had fabricated false intelligence reports on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in order to support President Bush’s plan to invade Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Now the whole world knows that Saddam never had any WMDs. But the end had justified the means -- Saddam has been hung dead.

The Malaysian government-owned mainstream media was roped in to sensationalise the raids and arrests of 62 Customs officers in Penang, Johor, Selangor and Pahang by a special task force, which purportedly comprised the MACC, the Inland Revenue Board, Bank Negara and the Customs Department.

The subsequent reaction of the Customs Department D-G, Dato’ Mohamed Khalid Yusuf, who expressed shock and unhappiness over the exaggerated tax losses and the death is very telling. In fact, the top leadership of the Customs Department was actually in the dark over the MACC plans and did not know anything about what was going on -- contrary to what we were told.

Customs D-G Dato’ Khalid (centre) clarifying the MACC’s erroneous allegations with FMM President Tan Sri Mustafa Mansur and FMM Customs Committee vice-chairman Datuk Tan Kwong Jin

The targets did not require much intelligence to identify. Going by the theory that the revenue losses were from import and export activities, they simply zoomed in on the custom entry points and presumed that all the officers in these divisions were corrupted.

That was how the MACC led these raids. There were no prior investigations. All the MACC had to work on are hunches. But they didn’t care because the objective was to divert public attention from the TBH RCI. That was what the disbanded APCO Public Relations firm had taught them -- it is all about managing public perception.

In the days that followed the sensational raids, the mainstream media kept playing up the story leaked by the MACC itself about one officer who purportedly had several million ringgit in his bank account while another had almost RM1 million. Two others were alleged to have more than RM500,000 each. Stories of the sweeping raids recovering gold bars and more than RM600,000 in cash stored in several bags were played up to the maximum.

With such strong ‘evidence’, you would imagine that these officers would have been charged by now. It has been two months since the raids and arrests, yet not one officer has been charged!

In the meantime, Yusof Akope, Mohd Fauzi and Abdul Ghani continued to smear the name of the dead Ahmad Sarbani as a very corrupted officer and painted him as the mastermind of the multi-billion ringgit Customs Department scam.

They told the Police I.O., ASP Zuhairi Mohamed, that Ahmad Sarbani jumped off the MACC building and committed suicide because he was afraid that the MACC investigations would show the billions of cash that he had stashed away. They even dubbed the case as the 3B case (RM3 billion).

See how fast it came down from RM108 billion to a mere RM3 billion!

They also told ASP Zuhairi and DSP Shafie that Ahmad Sarbani had admitted that he received bribes from Ah Seng of Top Mark Freightforwarding and Wan Zainal Abidin of Schenker Logistics.

The first thing that ASP Zuhairi did was to interview Ahmad Sarbani’s colleagues and he discovered a totally different picture of this much-maligned dead man. ASP Zuhairi obtained witness statements that Ahmad Sarbani was a responsible and hardworking officer who was ever so helpful to everyone who dealt with the Export & Import Section of Port Klang Customs Department.

ASP Zuhairi found out that stories of Ahmad Sarbani being stressed out were also untrue. On 4th April, duringZuhur prayers at the Customs surau in Port Klang, Ahmad Sarbani was seen hugging and consoling fellow officer Basharuddin who had just been released from MACC remand.

According to Basharuddin, Ahmad Sarbani had told him to have faith in God and not to be afraid, as the truth will prevail.

Apparently, Ahmad Sarbani was also an Imam Zuhur of that surau and was a pious Muslim. To ASP Zuhairi, all these are not consistent with the conduct of a stressed-out, corrupted officer who committed suicide. 

Ahmad Sarbani – maligned in his death

We continue the story behind the mysterious death of Customs Deputy Director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed. Ahmad Sarbani was the second person to 'commit suicide' while under the custody and while being interrogated by the MACC, the first being Teoh Beng Hock.

Although the government is trying to suggest that Beng Hock committed suicide, most Malaysians believe that this is not true and that Beng Hock was either murdered or was accidentally killed by the MACC officers who were forcibly trying to extract a confession from him.

Ahmad Sarbani’s death appears to meet this pattern and because of this Malaysians are even more convinced that he did not commit suicide. In fact, Ahmad Sarbani’s death reinforces the belief even more that Beng Hock did not also commit suicide.

Whatever the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry may be with regards to these two deaths, Malaysians have already decided that the two deaths are not suicides and that the government is trying to cover up this evil deed by fabricating reports and evidences.

However you look at it, these two incidences are going to have a negative impact on the government come the next general election.

Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) Investigating Officer (I.O.) ASP Zuhairi Mohamed did a thorough check on the late Customs Department Deputy Director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed’s assets and found that there was no unusual or extraordinary wealth.

He had only three modest cars -- a Perodua Kancil, a second-hand Honda CRV and a Proton Persona -- and a Modenas Kriss bike, which he rode to the MACC office on that unfortunate morning of 6th April, the day of his death.

He owned an apartment in Bukit Tinggi, Klang (RM65,872), an apartment in Puncak Alam (RM68,988), a Semi-D cluster house in Saujana Impian in Sungai Buloh (RM230,000) and RM35,000 in savings in Amanah Saham Bumiputra.

All these were duly accounted for.

The only significant asset, which was the Semi-D house, was bought via a government loan drawn from his wife’s savings with the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which she had withdrawn when she turned 50.

ASP Zuhairi then interviewed Wan Zainal Abidin and found out something more perplexing.

MACC Senior Investigating Officer (S.I.O.) Abdul Ghani had said that Ahmad Sarbani had implicated Wan Zainal and that he was the last person whom Ahmad Sarbani and Abdul Ghani had called just before his death.

This meant that Ahmad Sarbani was already in MACC’s custody when he died. And this shows that Dato’ Mustafar Ali had lied in his press statement.

In all, Wan Zainal gave three statements to ASP Zuhairi because AG Gani Patail was not satisfied when this man had steadfastly denied being involved in any bribery each and every time.

The reason for these three statements is because AG Gani Patail and Abu Kassim wanted the police to ‘wrap up’ this ‘suicide’ case by pointing to Wan Zainal as the cause of the fear and the resulting death of Ahmad Sarbani. They were bent of coming out with a verdict of 'suicide' so they needed the 'cause' but failed.

The mention of the AG’s name did not intimidate Wan Zainal who insisted to ASP Zuhairi that “saya takkan fitnahkan orang yang dah meninggal” (I will not defame a dead man) just for convenience. ASP Zuhairi also discovered that the background of Wan Zainal is not consistent with someone who would give bribes.

Wan Zainal is a God-fearing man and the Imam Jenazah of his surau. His salary and allowances are very modest. He voluntarily gave his last three years bank statements to DSP Shafie, which showed there was hardly any money for him to survive monthly, what more to bribe Ahmad Sarbani or any other Customs officer for that matter to the tune of billions of ringgit.

Wan Zainal also told ASP Zuhairi that on the eve of 4th April, he had met Ahmad Sarbani who apologised to him because he was forced by S.I.O. Abdul Ghani to implicate Wan Zainal. Since Wan Zainal worked for one of the largest forwarding companies in the country as well as globally it would be believable that this company would pay the biggest bribes to clear goods.

Upon realising that he had been tricked to implicate his innocent friends, Ahmad Sarbani told Wan Zainal that he would put things right.

On the morning of 6th April at about 9.50 am, S.I.O. Abdul Ghani had asked Ahmad Sarbani to summon Wan Zainal to the MACC office. By the time Wan Zainal arrived at around noon, Ahmad Sarbani had been killed.

At 2.00pm, S.I.O. Abdul Ghani met Wan Zainal and asked him to assist in giving a story to the police that would support the MACC’s spin that Ahmad Sarbani committed suicide because he was under pressure. Wan Zainal was also asked to coordinate the timing of certain calls and events to corroborate the MACC’s diary.

To absolve himself, S.I.O. Abdul Ghani also told a close friend that on the morning of 6th April, another MACC I.O. by the name of Shaikh had tried to upstage his leadership of the investigation by reporting to Mohd Fauzi that Ahmad Sarbani would not agree to be ‘cooperative’. This caused Mohd Fauzi to go ballistic who directed Shaikh and another officer, Kamal, to apply pressure on Ahmad Sarbani.

S.I.O. Abdul Ghani felt slighted that Shaikh was trying to gain prominence over him in this ‘big case’.

Abdul Ghani also confided that he saw Ahmad Sarbani with Shaikh and Kamal who were applying ‘pressure techniques’ and was making Ahmad Sarbani sign the acknowledgement form for the seizure of his telephone when Ahmad Sarbani was killed.

To pacify the Malaysian public, I.O. Shaikh and I.O. Kamal have been suspended indefinitely and this created a lot of enmity within the Selangor MACC, especially because S.I.O. Abdul Ghani was being protected by Yusof Akope and Mohd Fauzi.

Part 4 will follow tomorrow where we will reveal a massive cover-up and lying exercise aimed at hiding the fact that Ahmad Sarbani did not commit suicide but was murdered.

 “No One Killed Jessica”, a movie inspired by a TOI headline and based on a real-life story. While the killers of Jessica Lall were brought to book, thanks largely to a resolute Sabrina Lall, Jessica’s sister, media pressure and public outcry for over a decade, hundreds of murder cases and custodial deaths have remained unsolved for years in our country. And the ordeal the victims’ families go through cannot even be imagined by the rest of us who lead our busy lives.

Cipriano Fernandes died in police custody nearly three weeks ago in Goa, yet the policemen have gone scot-free so far, being protected by every stretch of the arm of law. While the law is supposed to protect the rights of individuals, most often, it is bent to suit and protect the offenders.

Jeswan Kaur, Free Malaysia Today

Cases of people dying while under detention keep cropping up, leaving an indelible mark on Malaysia's human rights record.

Suresh Kunasekaran, Samiyati Indrayani Zulkarnain Putra, A Kugan, M Krishnan and K Sivam – these five shared a common death: they all ended up dead while in police custody.

They also shared something else in common – failed justice and blatant abuse of their rights as humans.

When Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak assumed the country’s leadership from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on April 3, 2009, he promised the rakyat that he would “uphold civil liberties” and exhibit “regard for the fundamental rights of the people”.

Sadly or typical in politics, neither happened. Six years ago a royal commission report proposed the setting up of an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) but in 2009 the government shot down the proposal, saying the IPCMC’s powers were “too broad” and unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, cases of people dying after being detained by police keep happening. Statistics showed that between 2000 and February 2010, those who died while in detention were Malays (64), Chinese (30), Indians (28) other races (eight) and foreigners (14).

In Kugan’s case, the cop suspected of causing the former grievous hurt has been declared a free man by the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court. Judge Aslam Zainuddin on Jan 28, 2010, set constable V Navindran free because the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case.

Kugan, 23, was arrested in January 2009 in Puchong for allegedly stealing luxury cars. Barely days after, he was found dead inside the lock-up of the Taipan police station in USJ-Subang Jaya. A post-mortem declared his death as “fluid accumulation inside the lungs”. But eyewitnessess told a different story. They said the cop Navindran whacked Kugan with a rubber hose. A second post-mortem commissioned by Kugan’s family revealed that apart from being beaten, he had also been burnt and starved, all of which led to Kugan’s death.

On Jan 3 this year, police arrested electrician Krishnan, 37, on a drug-related offence. Four days later, Krishnan was found dead inside the Bukit Jalil police cell, with a Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia post-mortem concluding he died from stomach ulcer. A preliminary report on the second autopsy conducted by Universiti Malaya Medical Centre concurred with the earlier finding.

What made police so powerful?

Krishnan’s wife rejected the preliminary report, insisting that her husband was beaten to death. She said there were photographs of bruises on Krishnan’s body as well as two eyewitness who saw everything. The lawyer for the family said they were awaiting official documents on the first and second post-mortems before deciding on the next course of action. The report is due for release on Feb 7.

A week before Krishnan’s death, another death was recorded, this time at the Sentul police lock-up where Sivam, 43, was found dead. Samiyati, meanwhile, was found dead at the Wangsa Maju police station on Sept 12, 2006. Despite there being bruises on her body, Samiyati’s death was attributed to asthma.

The question being asked by the rakyat is: what has made the police so “powerful” in determining who they want to kill or set free?

In July last year, DAP MP Gobind Singh Deo demanded the Home Ministry clarify the cause of death behind the estimated 1,500 custodial deaths between 2003 and 2007.

“From 2003 to 2007, why was there no action taken? Why is it that until now (the) minister is unable to give a report and details?

“I call upon (Home Minister) Hishammuddin Hussein to respond and tell us how did these 1,500 people die? What has been done about their death?” asked Gobind.

On June 23, Gobind had forwarded to Deputy Home Minister Wira Abu Seman Yusop a copy of a BBC report titled “Malaysia pressed by UN over detentions without trial”. The report, published on June 18, stated that the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s visit to Malaysian prisons and detention centres found that between 2003 and 2007 “over 1,500 people died while being held by authorities”.

Gobind had said the deputy minister replied that there was no police report made and the ministry would only take action once a report is lodged.

Truly, such indifference shown by the deputy home minister towards the lives of people only further eroded the rakyat’s confidence in the police.

Basic rights denied

Criminal lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad had once pointed out that laws such as the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) and subsidiary legislation such as the Lock-up Rules were designed to “uphold and ensure the basic rights of persons under arrest” as well as to regulate lock-up conditions. However, these have been enforced in such a way that the basic rights are denied.

Section 28A (3) of the CPC stipulates that when an arrested person wishes to communicate with a “relative or friend to inform of his or her whereabouts” or “consult with a legal practitioner of his or her choice, the police officer should allow this “as soon as may be”.

In reality, this provision under the law has been conveniently dismissed by the police. Why?

The Royal Commission on Police report, released in May 2005, stated that between 2000 and 2004 only six out of the 80 deaths in custody were subject to inquests.

The failure of the judicial system in delivering justice to Kugan’s family follows on the heels of Teoh Beng Hock, a former DAP political aide who was found dead on the fifth floor corridor of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on July 16, 2009, hours after he was interrogated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission in the same premises.

Teoh’s family rejected the possibility of suicide, suspecting foul play instead. Following a public outcry, Najib ordered an inquest into the death. But after 18 months of proceedings and with Teoh’s remains exhumed for a second post-mortem, the coroner delivered an open verdict, ruling out both suicide and homicide.

Teoh’s sister, disappointed with the unjust verdict, demanded that a Royal Commission of Inquiry be set up to relook the cause of Teoh’s death. Najib has given the royal commission a three-month deadline.

Najib, however, refused to select any one of the five nominees suggested by Teoh’s family as the commission panel. Names given included former Bar Council president Ambiga Sreenevasan, former inspector-general of police Hanif Omar and workers rights group Tenaganita founder Irene Fernandez.

It is perplexing that Najib was not keen in all five names when all five are well known advocates in their respective fields. Would Najib care to answer why he refused to appoint even one of the names referred by Teoh’s family? Is it because the government wants to hide the truth one way or another? What happened to Najib’s cry of “people first, performance now”?

Even DAP leader Lim Kit Siang was left wondering why Najib rejected the names suggested by Teoh’s family. Lim regretted that the prime minister failed to consult Teoh’s family although he had promised to meet them and the public on who best be appointed as commissioners.

“It is no exaggeration to say that as a whole, the composition of the six members of the commission does not inspire full public confidence,” Lim had said.

In Kugan’s case, his family might not be as “enlightened” as Teoh’s in terms of demanding that an inquiry be set up. But all the bruises on Kugan’s body confirmed their fears that he was severely abused while in detention. A Sivarasa, one of the lawyers representing Kugan’s family, has demanded that Attorney-General Gani Patail resign for failing to ensure that justice prevailed.

Integrity of judicial system compromised

The Session Court’s decision to allow constable Navindran to go free has once again proven the public right that the judicial system is no longer trustworthy. To them it is unbelievable that in spite of eyewitnessess confirming that the cop had whacked Kugan with a rubber hose, the court set the constable free.

“The court’s excuse is the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case. It is unbelievable to what extent our judicial system can stoop so low. Setting the cop free has made a mockery of our country’s ability to mete out justice.

“The other truth is that the Session Court’s decision has also tainted the integrity of Malaysia’s judicial system. In this country, justice is all about power and influence, not about punishing the wrong-doer. It is as if justice is dead in Malaysia,” an activist Manohara Subramaniam lamented to FMT.

In October 2006, Amnesty International Malaysia (AI), disturbed over the custody death of Suresh, said its documented cases in the past revealed that relatives of those who died in police custody alleged that the police had obstructed the complaint process, suppressed evidence and even colluded with hospital officials and medical officers.

AI had then called for amendments to the CPC to include best practices on preliminary investigations in cases of custodial deaths. This also included sealing a police station as a crime scene for an independent investigation, including temporary suspension of officers in charge of the lock-up. These procedures were deemed important in avoiding tampering of evidence and any possibility of conspiracy between people involved in the case.

Another issue that AI believed needed urgent implementation was the installation and proper maintenance of closed-circuit televisions in all police stations, especially lock-ups and interrogation rooms with clear guidelines on how these recordings are kept safe.

Incidences of deaths at the hands of the police have left an indelible mark as far as the manipulation of justice and abuse of human rights are concerned. Failed justice in such cases is seen as a humiliation in the face of Najib’s promises of putting the rakyat’s welfare first.

In February 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council examined Malaysia under its Universal Periodic Review mechanism. Malaysia, however, rejected various recommendations by member states, including ratifications of core human rights treaties.

On Friday, the sub-divisional magistrate and deputy collector, Sabaji Shetye, deposing before the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) in Old Goa, stated in no uncertain terms that Cipriano died due to head injuries sustained in police custody. Shetye, who is conducting the probe into the alleged custodial death of Cipriano, said that according to medical reports and other material on record, it was clear that two of the injuries on Cipriano’s head were fatal and were caused while he was in police custody.

This has been confirmed by Goa Medical College and Hospital’s forensic department head, Dr Silvano Dias Sapeco, who said the death was caused due to two head injuries sustained by blunt force which led to the swelling of the brain.

Time and again, killers have got away in India and many a time, justice delayed is justice denied. Police have a poor track record in matters of custodial death.

The way police have attempted to manipulate public opinion in Cipriano’s case from the time Panaji Police picked up Cipriano and the conflicting stories they have tried to project on where they picked him up and why they arrested him in the first place, clearly points to foul play. When pressure built on them, Panaji Police tried to character-assassinate Cipriano. How does it matter what character Cipriano Fernandes had?

Here are the facts of the case: Cipriano was arrested on January 7, 2011, from his aunt’s house in Porvorim across the Mandovi River, based on a complaint by his girlfriend, Georgina Nunes, who stays in Caranzalem. He was taken under preventive arrest for threatening to kill her, police say.

The inside story goes that Cirpriano was having an affair with Georgina, a widow, and wanted to marry her. He was so passionate about the woman that he threatened to harm her if she did not marry him. Agitated by his behaviour, it is alleged, the woman complained to a powerful politician in her area, who is also a minister in the Congress government in Goa, telling him of her woes.

The minister is known to protect his voters no end, like a Robin Hood figure. He has the money and the muscle power to accomplish whatever he wants, it is said. If he feels the problem is genuine, he will go to any extent to resolve it.

Thus the minister wanted Cipriano to be taught a lesson. He told one of his confidants and close police aides to teach Cipriano a lesson. So, while the Panaji police team went to pick up Cipriano in a jeep, the policeman who was given the task of teaching Cipriano a lesson by the politician accompanied them in plain clothes. On record, he was not on duty at the Panaji police station on the said day, sources said.

It is said Panaji Police inspector Sandesh Chodankar, since suspended in this case, was at home at that time. He, sources say, was not at the police station at the time of the crime. His mistake was he had not put a station entry that he was leaving his office that day. But he cannot abdicate his responsibility.

The government has since suspended police inspector Sandesh Chodankar, sub-inspector Radesh Ramnathkar and head constable Sandip Shirvaikar, in the case involving Cipriano’s death. There are others who were on duty at the police station against whom no action has been taken so far.

Another interesting fact that has since come out is that the alcohol detection test report which has been received a couple of days ago from the forensic laboratory, Surat, Gujarat, where the sample was sent, has confirmed that Cipriano was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of arrest, as alleged by police. This makes it clear that another fact had been concocted by police. The police had stated that Cipriano was misbehaving under the influence of alcohol.

The histopathology report, which too has since come out, clearly states that Cipriano had neither consumed poison nor alcohol as alleged by the police. All these stories being planted by police in the media clearly show that they are on a cover-up operation. And the experience is, policemen are often good at cover-ups.

Interestingly, Georgina Nunes, who had first complained against Cipriano had accompanied the police when they picked up Cipriano. She has since alleged in the media that police had tortured Cipriano in the jeep. He was hospitalised on January 8 as his condition was bad, and breathed his last on the morning of January 9.

Cipriano’s cousin, Cosme Fernandes, has demanded that action be taken against all the culprits and they be put behind bars. He has also demanded that the driver of the police jeep, in which Cipriano was taken to police station, be questioned.

The family is now doing the familiar running from pillar to post seeking justice. Human rights activists have started making some noises. Police say they have done nothing wrong. “Investigations are on,” they say routinely. But will Cipriano’s killers be punished? Will the real culprits be caught and convicted? Only time will tell. Until then “No one killed Cipriano”

The turning over off the verdict of the Jessica Lal Muder case to give a life-time imprisonment sentence to a well-connected accused, is a precedent of the power of media, should they decide to use it. Dramatizing it with a strong cast and making it into a Hindi film is the need of the hour, if not anything else. The number of scams that 2010 saw makes a film showcasing the power of the audience, a necessary welcome to 2011.

Update: Read this author's review of No One Killed Jessica here.

The trailer makes you look forward to a crisp and strong film.

With music composed by Amit Trivedi and the 'right' snippets in the trailer the initial audience is likely to hit theaters. And this despite the fact that the story is known to anyone who is interested. I'm also hoping the film will also reach out to the people who aren't aware of the details.

The question now is - are the parts that didn't make it to the trailer good enough for us to recommend it to family and friends.

Music reviews:
Listen to the songs Here. Awesome, I say!

milliblog has given it a 200 word review instead of their regular 100-worder. That says it all!
music aloud - "9/10"
Bollyspice - "Ultimately, an album certainly worth checking out! Or 3.5/5"
Bollywood Hungama - "This has to be one of the most prestigious outings for Amit Trivedi as he brings in certain maturity in the way he deals with the soundtrack here. Or 3/5"
Hindustan Times - "fails to contain a cohesive sound and is rather mediocre."