Keadilan supreme council member N Gobalakrishnan did not knock down a policeman or speed off from a roadblock as claimed in media reports, said a social activist today.

According to Seremban Action team coordinator B Kalaivanar, the politician told him this when he met him at the Slim River police station on the night of the incident.

Gobalakrishnan ( left ) had allegedly committed the offences at about 10.30pm on Tuesday near Sungkai, Perak, along the North-South Highway.

The Keadilan leader, who is being remanded at the Tapah police station, is expected to be charged tomorrow under Section 323 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing injury to a public servant on duty.

If found guilty, he could face a one-year jail term, RM2,000 fine or both.

Relating the incident, Kalaivanar said the Keadilan leader and him were travelling to Ipoh from Kuala Lumpur in two separate cars.

"I was in front of him by about 30 minutes and after passing Tapah, Perak, I received a call from Gobalakrishnan's brother N Devan, saying that Gobalakrishnan had been arrested," he said.

Devan and two other relatives were travelling with Gobalakrishnan..

Arrest warrant

After learning about the arrest, Kalaivanar said he immediately rushed to the Slim River police station.

"It was here Gobalakrishnan told me what actually happened. It is nothing like what has been reported in the media. He did not speed away from a roadblock or knock down a policeman."

Kalaivanar said according to Gobalakrishnan, he was stopped at the roadblock in Sungkai and was asked for his identity card.

"When he gave the IC to the policeman, he was told that he had an impending arrest warrant for a traffic violation and that he was required to surrender himself.

"However Gobalakrishnan asked for the arrest warrant to be shown first and was told it was at the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman."

Kalaivanar said Gobalakrishnan then questioned the need for him to surrender and told the policemen to serve him the warrant first.

"Hearing this, the policeman said he had to wait for his superior to come and proceeded to continue doing his task at the roadblock, while holding Gobalakrishnan's IC."

After waiting for about 30 minutes, Gobalakrishnan told the policeman that he would collect his IC from the police station the next day and started driving away.

"While doing so, he said he heard a noise of something hitting his side-view mirror. He drove straight to the Bidor rest area and it was while having a drink there, he saw a group of policemen coming towards him."

"They had told him that he had run down a policeman on duty and had sped off from a road block and arrested him," said Kalaivanar.

Gobalakrishnan shocked

The activist said when he met Gobalakrishnan at the police station later, the latter expressed shocked at the turn of events.

"We saw the policeman who Gobalakrishnan allegedly ran down and he was not in a bad shape at all.

"He was walking well. Agreed that he had to receive treatment from the hospital but to say that Gobalakrishnan had intentionally knocked him down is wrong," said Kalaivanar.

He also complained about the manner in which Gobalakrishnan was treated following his arrest.

"He was first taken to Slim River police station, from there to Sungkai station and finally to Tapah station where his statement was recorded.

"Although the said incident happened at about 10.30pm, Gobalakrishnan was only formally arrested at about 6.15 am the next day," he said.

Kalaivanar added that he had visited Gobalakrishnan at the police station today and the investigating officer had refused to say if and when the politician will be charged.

Perak police chief Amiruddin Embi was reported as saying that the police have not decided on what further action would be taken.

Keadilan has yet to officially respond but vice-president Dr A Xavier Jayakumar was quoted in the New Straits Times today as saying that the party would leave it to the police to investigate the matter and take any action if necessary.