HRP calling for Royal Commission after the emotional send-off for Taiping duo who were shot by Police on Thursday

The Human Rights Party (HRP) has asked Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to table a motion in Parliament calling for a royal commission to probe whether the double shooting of two brothers in Taiping on Thursday was a police's shoot-to-kill operation.

Party pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar told a press conference in Taiping this afternoon that the opposition should also move a no-confidence motion in Parliament against the police chief.

Uthayakumar said letters have been sent yesterday to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Home Minister Hishammuddin Husein demanding a royal panel to probe the incident.

However, the press conference was abruptly cut short by Taiping district police chief Yusuf Mohd Diah, who ordered the journalists to disperse as they were hindering traffic flow along the road where the event was held.

According to Perak CID chief Mohd D'Zuraidi Ibrahim, the two brothers - who were wanted for armed robberies in various states - were killed in a shoot-out with the police.

Police also recovered a .22 pistol, a samurai sword, two parangs and three mobile phones from the car of the two suspects.

The dead are R Satchithantham, 28, and R Logeswaran, 35, from Taiping and both are sons of MIC Taman Sri Kota branch chief V Rethinam.

Rethinam had stated his intention to seek legal redress over the death of his two sons.

Earlier, there were a stream of MIC national and state leaders, including party state chief S Veerasingam, who came to pay their last respects to the deceased at their home.

The two coffins were later carried by HRP supporters and the funeral procession through Taman Pertama in Taiping was lead by Uthayakumar.

Funeral procession stopped

The coffins were later loaded into a lorry which carried a banner, 'We want a royal commission of inquiry on police shoot-to-kill policy'.

Also photocopies depicting the two dead suspects were given to supporters to distribute to the public on their way to the cemetery, with a planned stopover at the Taiping police headquarters.

However, before they could detoured to the police headquarters, the group was stopped by a team of police personnel and Federal Reserve Unit stationed at Jalan Taming Sari.

A heated argument between the emotionally charged HRP members and the police ensued.

Taiping police chief Yusuf had a hard time trying to ensure that the funeral procession did not get out of hand.

The HRP nevertheless got wide public attention from the residents in the town with their loud Indian music as the group finally headed directly to the Hindu cemetery in Tupai Road.

Yusuf told Malaysiakini that there was no need for such a show of protest over the deaths.

“They can file a police complaint on the incident and we will investigate the matter,” he said.

courtesy of Malaysiakini