Suspected thief died in lock-up due to infection

(The Star) PETALING JAYA: Suspected thief A. Gnana-pragasam’s death in a police lock-up was because of a bacterial infection in the intestine, according to the post-mortem findings.

Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said the post-mortem conducted by Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) pathologist Dr Prashant Samberkar yesterday afternoon found that Gnanapragasam died of “toxaemia secondary to spontaneous peritonitis” which means poison in the blood from bacterial infection in the intestines.

“I was also informed that Dr Prashant found no bruises on the body”, he said when contacted.

On Sunday, 53-year-old Gnanapragasam was found dead near a toilet at the Daman-sara Damai police lock-up by a guard. He was arrested for allegedly breaking into a house in Sungai Buloh.

He was sharing a cell with four other men who were sleeping at the time his body was found.

Earlier, his wife M. Manimatalai, 40, accompanied by Kapar MP S. Manikavasagam, Bukit Lanjan assemblyman Elizabeth Wong as well as 20 other people went to the mortuary at 8pm to collect Gnanapragasam’s death certificate.