Chia Buang Hing, 34, recounted the ordeal in which he claims to have been beaten repeatedly, had his life threatened, and was relieved of RM13,000.
According to the police report lodged yesterday, Chia, a businessman, had been stopped at a road block at 11pm on December 18 while driving from his house in Tropicana towards Kota Damansara. He had been driving without valid road tax.
At the stop, he claimed, police officers had noticed a stack of RM50 notes in his pocket as he was producing his driver’s licence, and immediately demanded for it.
Chia refused and said he then asked to make a police report, before the alleged assaults began.
“I tried to take his picture with my handphone and was immediately punched again, and again and was then handcuffed,” he said, claiming the incident was witnessed by several people including a friend, a security guard and passersby.
The beatings, Chia alleged, took place at various points from the time he was pulled over until he was brought to the Kota Damansara police station.
He also claims to have been assaulted by as many as five men at once while at the police station and on an empty plot of land at an undetermined location.
“Only when they saw that I was barely surviving, they took me to the hospital. By the time we got there, it was already 7 in the morning.
“Then, after that they threatened my life, my family, and my business, if I made a police report against them,” he said.
Later, Chia was brought to the Sungai Buloh Hospital before being taken to the Petaling Jaya Magistrates’ Court at about 10am the same day.
There, the father of two claimed his complaints were ignored before he was once again beaten outside the courthouse.
The police, according to Chia, had wanted him to report that his injuries had been sustained in a traffic accident.
Today, Chia said he would be able to identify five of his 11 assailants, those who he alleged had assaulted between 11am and 3pm
Chia said he could recognise at least five out of 11 policemen he claimed to have assaulted him, adding that all but one had been in police uniforms.
Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng, who was the translator for the police report, told The Malaysian Insider that the Selangor Contingent Headquarters (IPK) has formally intervened in the matter.
“We believe the whole IPD (district police headquarters) PJ has been compromised. So, we want other IPD other than IPD PJ to investigate, to take up this case,” he said.
The DAP man said that they had first gone to the Shah Alam district police station yesterday before being referred back to the PJ district police station.
They then went to the Mutiara Damansara police station to lodge the police report.
Lim said that, on their return to the Kota Damansara police station yesterday, most of the stains been removed but that there was still evidence.
“Most of the blood stains has been cleaned up but this chap is quite smart. He (Chia) put some of the bloody fingerprints on some hidden place like under the table, behind the mirror, under the cupboard, those fingerprints were still there,” he said.
“I am really blessed to be able to survive this. I really thought I was going to die in there. That’s why I left my fingerprints all over the toilet because I thought my life was over because every time I said I want to contact my wife and mother, the more they kicked,” Chia said.
Today, Chia also claimed to have been carrying a total of RM18,000 at the time he was detained, saying he had RM7,000 in his left pocket, RM3,000 in his back pocket and RM 8,000 in the car.
He said he was on the way to close his shops before heading back to his hometown for his mother’s birthday.
“This is my hard earned money and it’s my mother’s birthday today. I want to give her the money and it’s for my relative’s medical expenses,” he explained.
Lim later said Chia was considering a civil suit against the government and the police.
Chia had been held under remand on suspicion of drugs and weapons possession until December 22, and is currently out on police bail.
About RM5,000 had been returned to him upon release.
Investigations are still going on.