8 ethnic Indians charged in prosecutor's murder in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, Sep 28: Eight ethnic Indians, including a military doctor, were today charged in connection with the murder of a public prosecutor, who handled many high profile cases in Malaysia.

Six of the accused have been charged with murder of Deputy Public Prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais while two others, including the military doctor, have been charged with abetting the murder.

Police had earlier said that Morais was the DPP in a case where military doctor Col Dr R Kunaseegaran, 48, working with the pathology lab at the Tuanku Mizan Military Hospital, was charged with unlawful trade of medicines in December 2013.

In September last year, Kunaseegaran, who was on a RM 100,000 bail, had claimed trial to two bribery charges involving RM 700,000 for allegedly recommending three companies to supply medicines and disposable medical tools to the hospital. G Gunasegaran, 47, R Dineshwaran, 23, Thinesh Kumar, 22, M Viswanath, 25, S Nirmalan, 22, and S Ravi Chandran, 44, allegedly committed the offence on September 4, the court said.

The seven suspects face the death penalty if convicted. A mechanic, A Murugan Arujalan, has also been charged with abetting Morais's murder. Magistrate Siti Radziah Kamardin has fixed November 30 for mention pending the postmortem and chemist reports.

Morais went missing on September 4 after leaving his residence for work in Putrajaya. He was abducted by several men during morning rush hour traffic.

A DNA test performed on the body found in a cement filled oil drum on September 16 matched that of Morais. The oil drum was dumped at a swamp and one of the suspects arrested led police to the location of the oil drum.

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission director of legal and prosecution division Umar Saifuddin Jaafar has said that Morais, who was seconded to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission for 10 years, handled many high-profile cases.

PTI