The Teoh Beng Hock coroner's inquest will, on Wednesday Nov 4, hear an application from his family to exhume the body.

The family had stated on Oct 25, that they have decided to exhume Teoh's body.

NONEThis application is being made after Thai forensic expert Dr Porntip Rojanasunand's testimony last week saying that she believes 80 percent of the political aide's death could have been due to homicide and 20 percent suicide.

Following the family's decision for a second post-mortem, their lawyer Gobind Singh Deo, filed an application on Tuesday with the magistrate's registrar for the matter to be heard.

Gobind had said that there is a strong case to ask for a second post mortem following Dr Pornthip's testimony.

Dr Pornthip made several explosive allegations at Teoh's inquest suggesting the political aide could have been strangled before falling from the 14th floor of Plaza Masalam.

This comes from marks on Teoh's neck indicating the possibility of manual strangulation.

The flamboyant pathologist also pointed out Teoh's skull fracture was not typical of an injury from a fall, and an injury to the deceased's anus could have been caused by penetration.

Dr Pornthip, who had looked at the post-mortem pictures cited several reasons before arriving at her conclusion:

1) The autopsy reports indicated that he was alive when landing on the ground, but she found no protection injuries on the body

2) She found wounds that looked like pre-fall injuries.

3) The chest injuries were the result of primary impact.

Hishammuddin: Application should be allowed

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had also told reporters on Wednesday that the family members' application for the second exhumation should be allowed in the interest of finding the truth.

"If it requires things like that and there is a rationale behind it, and it is within the law, I see no reason why it should not be allowed," he had said.

If the application is allowed, the body would be exhumed and the second post-mortem could be done immediately as Dr Pornthip herself is scheduled to be in Kuala Lumpur early next week to attend an international conference here.

The pathologist had said she was willing to perform the second post mortem. Gobind has also asked the Attorney General Chambers to extend their co-operation for a place and equipment for Dr Pornthip to perform the post mortem.

Exhumation of bodies to perform a second post mortem is not rare, the recent being Dr Cynthia Joseph where her body was exhumed following her family's application after they suspected her death was due to foul play.

Following the suspicions, a post mortem and also an inquest was held to determine the cause of her death.