Humayun Kabir, Aug 24, 2010, 6:52pm
Perak DAP state deputy chief and lawyer M Kulasegaran is considering legal action against the police force for 'false imprisonment'.
He claimed they had handcuffed him for 10 minutes, while his former political secretary P Sugumaran had suffered injuries in an incident last Sunday at the Sitiawan police station.
Kulasegaran (left in pic) said the handcuffs were only removed when the district police chief arrived and ordered his immediate release.
“This was a humiliating incident as I had done nothing wrong to warrant such a forceful action,” he told the media at the DAP headquarters in Ipoh today.
Sugumaran, who was also handcuffed, was injured when he was allegedly kicked and beaten up for about three minutes by about five police personnel, and he fell to the floor in the police station. He claimed that he has their photographs and can identify two of them.
He said he was bleeding from the mouth when taken to the lock-up, where he requested water to drink. However, a policeman allegedly said he would only bring water from the toilet.
While in the lock-up, Sugumaran (right) sent a text message to Kulasegaran and Pakatan assembly speaker V Sivakumar, asking them to 'save' him from his agony.
“I thought I was a goner and just might become another casualty like (A) Kugan (who died in police custody in Subang Jaya),” he said.
Last Sunday, Kulasegaran had accompanied about 1,000 residents of Sitiawan - led by Dindings Indian Association chairperson MP Sahnmugam - to the police station to lodge a report.
Kulasegaran said two factions are fighting for control of a 2ha site belonging to the association.
Sugumaran claimed that a policeman made a racist remark - “You bloody Indians” - and that he was arrested when he went to question the officer.
Released after his statement was recorded, he was taken to the Sri Manjung Hospital for treatment.
At 8pm, Kulasegaran accompanied him to lodge a police report at the Manjung police district headquarters.
Sugumaran later complained of severe pain in his abdomen and started to pass blood in his urine, and was admitted to the Sitiawan Specialist Centre at about 9.30pm.
A CAT scan yesterday at the Pantai Hospital in Ipoh detected blood clots in his kidneys.
'Proof in footage'
Kulasegaran also slammed Perak police chief Zulkifli Abdullah for denying that the personnel had used force or made racist remarks, and for demanding proof of the claims, as reported by Bernama yesterday.
Kulasegaran said Zulkifli should have acted with impartiality and not drawn hasty conclusions based on the police version.
He said the 1,000 Sitiawan residents who were at the police station to make the report were the main witnesses of the incident.
“There were Special Branch officers making a video recording and the unedited video will speak volumes about the incident,” he said.
“The police should make the video recording public in the interest of justice and fair play.”
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