While the custodial death cases of cow's milk vendor A Ganapathy and security guard S Sivabalan are yet to see closure, yet another man has died under police custody.

This time, Surendran Shanker, 21, died at the Kluang hospital yesterday morning, about a month after he was moved to the Simpang Renggam prison.

Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported that the youth, who was detained by the police on a drug charge in June last year, was taken to the hospital from the prison after complaining of severe abdominal pain.

According to the report, Surendran's death has been classified as being due to "septic shock with multiple organ failure."

"We have to accept that he is gone but I feel there is injustice here.

"We feel there is foul play involved as Surendran had no health issues. He was only 21," the deceased's mother Kumatameri Asirvatham was quoted telling the portal.

Surendran was detained in Petaling Jaya last June, under the Prevention of Crime Act (Poca) which is a detention without trial provision. He was remanded for four days, before being sent to the Muar rehabilitation centre in August last year, which was the last time his family met him.

He was transferred to the Simpang Renggam prison on April 25.

The deceased's family is represented by K Ganesh, the same lawyer who is acting on behalf of A Ganapathy's family.

"How many more deaths like these must happen before the government sits up and takes action?

"The people need to wake up and realise that this could happen to any one of us," the portal quoted Ganesh saying outside the Home Ministry's headquarters yesterday, where he had accompanied a group of Pakatan Harapan lawmakers to submit a memorandum calling for an independent taskforce to probe the deaths of Ganapathy and Sivabalan.

The group was turned away the ministry's gates.

Ganapathy, 40, died at the Intensive Care Unit of the Selayang Hospital on April 18 after being detained by the Gombak police. He had one of his legs amputated, and suffered from kidney-related issues, during hospitalisation.

Sivabalan, 42, meanwhile, died on May 20, just about an hour after he was detained by the Gombak police.

Both the men's deaths have courted widespread backlash from the public and opposition lawmakers alike.


Source& Photo source: FMT