IPOH: The High Court here was informed by an investigating officer that he was instructed to provisionally charge Deputy Supt Mohd Nazri Abdul Razak, a senior police officer, with the murder of a secondary school student in Meru Raya in December 2023.
Ipoh police criminal investigation department senior investigating officer ASP Chua Sze Yuan said the instruction was received after he gave an initial briefing to the Deputy Public Prosecutor on Dec 17, 2023.
"After the briefing, I was informed in the evening that the directive was to tentatively charge DSP Mohd Nazri under Section 302 of the Penal Code," he said in his written statement before judge Datuk Bhupindar Singh Gucharan Singh Preet on Tuesday (Jan 7).
ASP Chua also said he received instruction from the OCPD, which was conveyed through the district police criminal investigation department chief Deputy Supt Mohd Zulkefli Mohd Mukhtar, to take over the investigation from traffic investigation officer Inspector Jong Pit Chao on Dec 16, 2023 at about 11am.
"Insp Jong was instructed to continue assisting in this case's investigation.
"Before I took over, I received instructions from DSP Zulkefli on the evening of Dec 15, 2023 to assist Insp Jong," he said.
"This was due to the investigation also involving aspects under the purview of the criminal investigation department, and it was not limited to the jurisdiction of the traffic investigation and enforcement department," he added.
ASP Chua said Insp Jong had helped record statements from witnesses and DSP Mohd Nazri.
He added that DSP Mohd Nazri was also arrested by Insp Jong on Dec 15, 2023, at about 8pm.
"I revisited the scene of the incident with Insp Jong on Dec 16, 2023.
"I inspected the area to determine whether there were CCTVs near the scene," he said.
ASP Chua said on Dec 17, 2023, he received information from Insp Jong about two dashcam video recordings of the incident.
"I instructed her to send the recordings via WhatsApp. After reviewing the videos, I directed Insp Jong to trace and contact the owners of the videos and the vehicles involved," he said.
On Dec 18, 2023, ASP Chua said he filed the charge against DSP Mohd Nazri in court.
"However, in the afternoon of the same day, the investigation paper was then taken over by the new investigating officer, ASP S. Dasarathan, on the instructions of the district criminal investigation department chief.
"I was asked to assist ASP Dasarathan in the investigation," he said.
"I handed over all case items to ASP Dasarathan after the latter officially took over as the investigating officer," he added.
The prosecution was led by Deputy Public Prosecutor Afzainizam Abdul Aziz while Mohd Nazri was represented by lawyers M. Athimulan, Datuk Mior Faridalathrash Wahid and Aiman Hakim Kamaruzzaman as well as observing lawyer Syaheera Rosli.
