A mystery letter today stole the limelight at the Teoh Beng Hock inquest, with lawyer Gobind Singh Deo wanting the police to investigate the contents of the letter.

The letter was hand-delivered to Gobind at the end of yesterday's proceedings.

At the start of the inquest this afternoon, Gobind immediately passed it to coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas, asking him to direct the police to investigate the contents.

Gobind, representing the Teoh family, said the letter containss details related to the case and was "significant for the purpose of the case".

azlanAzmil, after having read the letter dated Aug 5, agreed with Gobind and ordered an investigation.

He said the letter clearly has several elements that are closely related to the proceedings.

"As such, I need to direct the investigating officer Ahmad Nazri Zainal to investigate the contents that are related to the scope of the inquest proceedings to determine the cause of (Teoh's) death," he said.

The inquest was then adjourned to Monday pending the police probe.

The content were was not revealed but the letter was made available to all parties in the case.

The lawyers remained tight-lipped in keeping with their agreement not to divulge the details of the letter.

Some names mentioned

Lawyer Tan Hock Chuan, for the government, did not object to Gobind's application.

"The allegations in the letter need to be investigated by the police as we are all here to get to the truth in this matter," he said.

"There are several names mentioned in the letter. The police need to be given the opportunity to determine the truth or otherwise of the allegations."

Speaking to reporters later, Gobind said he was given the letter last evening by an individual.

He confirmed that the letter reveals the names of several individuals but refused to say if they are politicians.

He also refused to reveal whether it was an anonymous letter or if it was signed.

The only other detail he gave was that the five-page letter was typewritten.

When asked whether the letter would bring about changes in the case, Gobind said: "To me, yes, it may bring new information."

Meanwhile, back at the inquest, Teoh's family was once again present today since their last visit two weeks ago. His mother was seen holding his photograph.