Hearing of a bid to reclaim A Kugan's post-mortem samples - taken from the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre by the police - has been adjourned to July 30.

This was after counsel N Surendren asked for time to respond to preliminary objections raised by the Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP).

NONESurendran (left) made the request at the Jalan Duta High Court this morning, in order to reply to the technical grounds brought up by DPP Idhan Abdul Ghani.

These objections were brought up during the previous hearing on July 2 during the application by Kugan's family to have the seized items returned to the pathology department of University Hospital.

The items taken by the police, which Surendren claims are necessary to complete the post-mortem report, include Kugan's blood and tissue samples, documents and handwritten notes by the pathologist.

Today, the court also granted Surendren's application for an order for the items to be preserved in the condition in which they were seized.

The hearing had been postponed to today as the judge was out of town.

Kugan, 22, was detained early this year for alleged involvement in car theft. He died after five days in police custody.

Three technical objections

DPP Abdul Ghani today specified three grounds for the prosecution's preliminary objections:

  • As the search warrant was issued by the Petaling Jaya Magistrate's Court, the family's application to revoke the order should be heard in that court and not the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

  • The family's application to reclaim the seized items was not lawful as the seizure was done to facilitate police investigations.

  • a kugan detention death confiscated item case 280509 03Objection to counsel's allegations that technical grounds were unclear.

Justice Ghazali Haji Cha agreed with defence counsel that the previous notice containing the DPP's technical objections was too general and granted the two weeks leave to prepare for the next hearing.

Samples 'cannot be tampered with'

Speaking to reporters outside the court, Surendren said he was happy that the court granted his application to have the seized items preserved.

"The police are not to tamper with (these) and to preserve all the items that were taken until this hearing is completed. If they tamper with it, they will be in contempt of court," he said.

Kugan case 020709 03Surendren said the samples are still needed because these have to be sent to Australia for further toxicology tests to complete the post-mortem report.

However, he also expressed disappointment with the objections raised by the DPP.

"Instead of going into the matter, which is whether or not the police were correct in taking the samples before the post-mortem was completed, (the DPP) is sidestepping (the matter) and going into technical issues.

"But since the DPP raised the issue, the court is bound to hear it. We respect the process... and we hope we will get a good hearing."