The Kuala Lumpur Magistrate's Court will decide on Monday whether the samples taken from the deceased car theft suspect A Kugan would be returned to the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) or be kept by the police.

Magistrate Ho Kwong Chin fixed the date after hearing submissions from the lawyer representing the applicant and the deputy public prosecutor, representing the police.

Lawyer N Surendran told the court that Kugan's mother, N Indra, filed the application to compel the police to return all items, documents, tissue samples and bodily fluids to the UMMC pathology department.

He said that Kugan's family needed the samples to be sent to a medical centre in Australia for toxicology tests to determine whether Kugan was given any injection prior to his death in January this year.

DPP Azlina Rasdi told the court that the samples were part of the evidence to be submitted for a trial of a policeman charged with causing grievous hurt to Kugan.

She also said that the application to obtain the samples should have been made by UMMC and not Indra, and furthermore, there were no UMMC representatives in the court to ensure that the samples would be safe if they were returned to the centre.

"Police have the responsibility to ensure that the chain of statement is not disrupted and jeopardise the prosecution's case," she said.

Kugan, 22, was arrested on Jan 15 on suspicion of being involved in car theft activities but was found dead the day after.

On Oct 1, a police officer from the USJ police station pleaded not guilty in the Sessions Court to two charges of causing grievous hurt to Kugan.

- Bernama