KUALA LUMPUR: There were tense moments at the High Court when the seventh defendant in the murder of deputy public prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais was accused of giving false testimony.
S. Ravi Chandaran, 47, was grilled by the prosecution team led by Saiful Edris Zainuddin during cross-examination before Judge Datuk Azman Abdullah.
Saiful suggested that Ravi Chandaran had uttered lies when he claimed he was innocent and was not at all involved in Morais’s murder.
He also suggested that Ravi Chandaran had fabricated his statement by claiming that G. Gunasekaran, also known as ‘Jay’, the second accused who had earlier been acquitted by the court, had lent some money to Morais.
Saiful: Your statement that Jay asked you to help him to collect the money from a person at Jalan Dutamas is false.
Ravi Chandaran: I do not agree.
Saiful: The amount of money you said was borrowed by the person at Jalan Dutamas is hearsay?
Ravi Chandaran: I do not agree.
Deputy public prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladim then suggested that all allegations that counsels Datuk N. Sivananthan and Datuk Geethan Ram Vincent, who are appearing for Colonel Dr R. Kunaseegaran who was charged with abetting, were involved in the murder was also a lie.
Ravi Chandaran disagreed, but said he was suspicious of Dr Kunaseegaran and believed that the pathologist was involved into the abduction and murder of Morais.
Shaharuddin: Why are you suspicious of Dr Kunaseegaran?
Ravi Chandaran: Because he told me at a temple near Bukit Raja in Klang that he was responsible for the disappearance of Morais.
Shaharuddin: Can you give me the exact words uttered by Dr Kunaseegaran?
Ravi Chandaran: I am responsible for the disappearance of Morais and you should not know the details.
The accused also denied Wan Shaharuddin’s suggestion that he and Dr Kunaseegaran were the masterminds behind the murder.
Ravi Chandaran; S. Nimalan, 22; R. Dineshwaran, 23; A.K. Thinesh Kumar, 22; and, M. Vishwanath, 25, were jointly charged with murdering Morais, 55, between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015, while the victim was on his way from Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul to his office in Putrajaya.
If they are found guilty, they face the mandatory death.
Dr. Kunaseegaran, 54, was charged with abetting in the murder of Morais.
Apart from Dr Kunaseegaran, the accused are represented by counsels M. Manoharan, V. Rajehgopal and G. Sivakumar.
Morais’ body was found in a drum filled with concrete at Persiaran Subang Mewah, Subang Jaya, on Sept 16, 2015.
He was reported missing on Sept 4, 2015 and was last seen leaving his condominium in Menara Duta to drive to his office in Putrajaya in a Proton Perdana bearing registration number WA6264Q.
The trial continues on Nov 26.
