SEREMBAN: Police have arrested three family members, including the son of a wheelchair-bound elderly man who died after allegedly being abused at a flat in Rasah Jaya, Seremban.
The deceased, identified as 63-year-old K. Balakrishnan died due to blunt force trauma to the head, according to the death certificate sighted by New Straits Times.
Civil society group, Tamilar Kural’s national president, Sarawanan Nagayah, said the suspects, aged between 28 and 34, were the deceased’s son, his wife and his wife’s sister, who is believed to have recorded a video showing the alleged abuse that later went viral on social media.
The case has since been classified as murder pending the outcome of a post-mortem examination at Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital.
The elderly man and his son had reportedly been staying with the son’s wife’s family for almost two years before the incident.
The case came to light after a video showing the elderly man being force-fed and repeatedly struck with a yellow rubber hose went viral.
Sarawan said it is unclear when the abuse took place.
The video was allegedly recorded by the deceased’s sister-in-law, who later shared it with a friend. The footage was uploaded to social media after the friend learnt of the elderly man’s death.
The incident caught the attention of Sarawanan, who stepped in after learning about the case.
He then visited the family and became suspicious when he noticed that the son appeared to be rushing to arrange his father’s funeral.
“I lodged a police report and stopped the funeral as I was suspicious about the cause of death,” he said.
He said police arrived in time to retrieve the elderly man’s body for a post-mortem examination to establish the actual cause of death.
Sarawanan said he also spoke to several neighbours to find out whether they had witnessed or reported the alleged abuse.
Seremban district police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohd Yatim Osman said the trio have been remanded until Nov 12 to facilitate investigation for murder.
“If found guilty, the offenders can be sentenced to death, jailed for between 30 and 40 years and whipped upon conviction,” he said.