36-Year-Old M’sian, Umar Abdullah Died Under Police Custody Due to “Severe Facial Injuries”

By Karissa Lund  •  04 Jun 2021 in News

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News of yet another police custodial death has surfaced. This time around, it involves a lorry driver, Umar Faruq Abdullah who was locked up at the south Klang district police headquarters (IPD). Umar now becomes the third case of custodial death reported in the space of 15 days.

Lawyer M. Manoharan said that Umar’s wife Humairah Abdullah had gone to the police headquarters to bring him food on Thursday (3 June) morning.

“She waited at the police headquarters but was later told by a policeman that her husband had passed away at 3.30pm on Thursday. Humairah was informed that her husband fell to his death,” he said in a Facebook post.

Manoharan added that he was planning to take legal action against the police and the government over the matter.

According to FMT, Umar was brought in on 1 June after alleged theft and was remanded for four days to assist in the investigation.

Police stated the 36-year-old jumped to his death from the second floor of the IPD where he was being questioned, with an initial report stating that he passed away due to “severe facial injuries”.

The report stated that Umar, whose hands were handcuffed behind his back, was being taken down from the third floor to the first floor of the IPD’s criminal investigation department after his statement was recorded. A scuffle with a policeman ensued on the second floor, with Umar then jumping through the window at the staircase.

Manoharan, who is representing Umar’s family, urged that “something must have happened” for the police to state that Umar wanted to escape.

“I urge the public prosecutor to charge the policemen involved for manslaughter under Section 304 of the Penal Code or criminal negligence under Section 328 of the Penal Code at the very least,” he told FMT.

For now, Umar’s post-mortem is scheduled for today (4 June). Read Manoharan full Facebook post, here:

Umar’s death comes in the wake of security guard S Sivabalan’s death at the Gombak police station on 20 May. A week later, on 27 May, Surendran Shanker died at the Kluang hospital after being held at the Simpang Renggam prison in Johor.