We didn’t know of his arrest, says family of dead detainee

SUNGAI BULOH: The family of Thanaseelan Muniandy are distraught over his death in police custody, claiming that they did not even know of his arrest.

His estranged wife S. Piremilah said the family only knew he died at the Bukit Sentosa lock-up seven hours later on Saturday.

“We have been separated for over five years now, but he lived nearby and was close to the children.

“He frequently visited my mother’s house, which is not too far away from mine and that is where I last saw him on Feb 21,” Piremilah said when contacted.

Police said that Thanaseelan, 43, was arrested on Feb 21, for alleged burglary and remanded from Feb 22 to Feb 25.

Disputing this, Piremilah said her niece had seen Thanaseelan at 10am on Feb 22, adding that this meant he could not have been arrested earlier.

Asked when she knew about his arrest, the mother of four said she received a call at 8am on Saturday from a police officer.

“I was told that he was in a serious state and that he was in the lock-up.

“When I went there, I was told that he was being sent to Hospital Sungai Buloh for gastritis treatment,” she said.

Piremilah said that she later found out that Thanaseelan had died at about 1am that morning.

Meanwhile, Hospital Sungai Buloh pathologist Dr Razuin Rahimi said preliminary post-mortem findings showed that Thanaseelan had died from blood poisoning due to a perforated gastric ulcer.

According to lawyer Eric Paulsen, the deceased was suffering from chronic gastritis even before his arrest.

“His family confirmed that he was already suffering from gastritis.

“There appears to have been no foul play, but there seems to have been a certain degree of neglect,” he said at Hospital Sungai Buloh yesterday.