A 20-year-old pregnant widow today claimed that her husband had been tortured, including having all his fingernails extracted, before being shot dead by the police.

C Jaya Malar, who is unemployed, lodged a police report on the matter with the Brickfields district police headquarters and urged Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail to conduct an inquest.

The mother of a six-month-old daughter, who hails from Desa Pandan, also called on the AG to take action against Selangor police chief Mohd Noor Hamat and the policemen involved in the incident.

According to the police, her husband N Nagendran, 23, was shot dead when the driver of the lorry he was travelling in with four others had ignored orders to stop and attempted to ram into a patrol car on Jan 13 in Pandan Indah.

News reports said the police had spotted the five men 'behaving suspiciously' and ordered them to pull over but the driver sped off and a chase ensued.

The patrol car was then said to have overtook the one-tonne lorry and once again orders to stop went unheeded, forcing the police personnel to fire six shots.

Nagendran, who worked as a caddy, died on the spot while the rest were arrested. The police also said they had found a parang, knives and metal roads in the vehicle.

However, Jaya Malar claimed that this version was fabricated, saying that her husband was murdered.

In her report, she alleged that there were witnesses who told her that a person was gunned down at the nearby Pandan Perdana flats and his body was later brought to the scene.

Legal action

Met later, Jaya Malar said she learnt of her husband's death after a policeman from the Ampang police station telephoned the house at about 6am.

Following this, she rushed to the police station but was not given any reasons as to why her husband was shot beyond a policeman saying, "Kita tembak dia matilah." (We shot him and he died).

"It was easy for them to say that, but who is going to look after my children?" she said amid tears.

Jaya Malar said she then went to Hospital Kuala Lumpur, where Nagendran's body was sent for post-mortem, and discovered bruises all over him and a gunshot wound to his chest.

Parti Reformasi Insan's (Prim) Police Watch and Human Rights Committee chairperson RN Rajah, who accompanied Jaya Malar, said the family will initiate legal action within the next 14 days.

"No more waiting for an inquest. I don't think the process is working. We have written to the authorities (regarding previous case) but all fell on deaf ears. The family will file a suit against the police and the government, regardless of the inquest," he said.

Rajah also questioned why the police had to open fire on the lorry's occupants instead of the tyres.

"They had ample time to shoot the tyres ... why must you gun them down. What is the motive?" he said.

Also present was Prim pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar, who stressed that the police should not have resorted to such harsh measures.

Meanwhile, A Ranjanle, 17, the wife of one of the four arrested, also alleged that she has not been allowed to see her husband M Vijan, 55, since the incident.

Selangor police chief Mohd Noor could not be reached for comment.