S Tharma Rajen, 20, a waiter from Kuala Lumpur, died at the Putrajaya hospital after he was sent there from the lockup. June 2002

Name	Age	Date	Circumstance of death
S Tharmarajen	20	June 21, 2002	Mr. S. Tharma Rajen, a previously healthy young man. In June 2002, Tharma Rajen died under mysterious circumstances while in the custody of the police. He was detained consecutively for 66 days in four different police stations and was eventually detained under the Emergency Ordinance (EO). According to the official post-mortem, this previously healthy young man apparently died of pneumonia, although a different post-mortem said that he died of tuberculosis. The latter, private post-mortem also observed that the body was “malnourished and emaciated.” There were allegations of Tharma Rajen being beaten up while in police custody. There had also been repeated pleadings made by Tharma Rajen and his family members that he be taken to the hospital, but they were ignored. He was finally taken to the hospital when he became critically ill. The deceased's mother claimed that, two hours before he died, her son was handcuffed to the hospital bed despite being emaciated and unable to breathe properly.  At the inquest, a nurse also testified that he was handcuffed by both hands to the bed even though he was so weak that he needed assistance to eat and shower.