Family dispute breaks out over body of Kevin Morais

KUALA LUMPUR: A dispute has broken out in the family of murdered Deputy Public Prosecutor Anthony Kevin Morais over the issue of the claiming of his body from the KL Hospital mortuary on Monday.

Two of Kevin’s brothers have claimed that his body was taken from the mortuary without the consensus of the rest of his family, who now claims that they have no idea what has been done to Kevin’s body or where it is

“There is an ulterior motive. That is all I am going to say,” said David Ramesh Morais when contacted.

David claimed that someone had apparently contacted him several days before the body was claimed and suggested that he joined Richard in claiming the body.

“I said no. I replied this is a Morais family issue. If Richard wants to collect the body, it has to be a unanimous decision between the three brothers.

The family had been keeping Kevin’s body on ice since September and had been pushing for a second autopsy to be done. Police had allegedly pushed for the family to claim the body quickly during a closed door meeting early November “to put to rest speculations”.

A family representative said that the Attorney-General’s Chamber’s, which had originally granted a second autopsy, later asked for the family to apply for a court order to have the second post-mortem done.

“We filed the court order and the same day Richard went to take out the body,” said the family representative. “We are contemplating criminal action against Richard,” the representative continued.

The family representative claimed that Richard had been estranged from Kevin for about 15 years.

When contacted, Richard declined to comment on the matter, but said he would be accepting a posthumous Datukship on behalf of his brother from the Sultan of Perak on Friday.

Kevin went missing on Sept 4 after leaving his home in Menara Duta for work in Putrajaya.

Several men abducted him following a minor accident along Jalan Dutamas.

A DNA test on a body found in a cemented oil drum dumped in a swamp in Subang Jaya on Sept 16 identified the remains as Kevin’s.

Army pathologist Kol Dr R. Kunaseegaran and seven others have been charged with the abduction and murder of the DPP.