Kugan's family to send his body samples to Aussie lab

Kuala Lumpur, Feb. 6 (ANI): Body samples of A. Kugan, whose custodial death had created a public uproar in Malaysia, would be sent to Australia for further analysis, said Kugan's family lawyer N. Surendran.Surendran said Kugan's body samples, which were taken during his second post-mortem, were initially being planned to be send to Singapore but some reluctance on Singapore's part forced the family to opt for Australia, The Star reports.The 22-year-old-man died on 20 January after being arrested on the suspicion of car stealing. State Police Chief Khalid Abu Bakar has said that Kugan was being interrogated when he asked for a glass of water and suddenly collapsed.

Police initially claimed that Kugan had died of "breathing difficulties", and a post-mortem report said he had died due to fluid in his lungs.

On the night of the incident, around 50 people, including members of Kugan's family, stormed the Serdang Hospital mortuary where Kugan's body was taken for a post-mortem. Some of them took photographs of his body, showing signs of injury, which were later, published on the blog of a Member of Parliament.

The family lawyer said the samples were being sent abroad because the family did not have any faith in the local laboratories."The samples will be sent to Australia in 10 days' time as the forensic pathologist who conducted the post-mortem on Kugan's body is still having it with him," he said.Meanwhile, Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam handed a memorandum to the Inspector General of Police demanding the immediate dismissal of Selangor police chief DCP Khalid Abu Bakar. (ANI)