KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 27 — The attorney general has ordered an inquest into fireman Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim who died after an alleged assault during the second day of rioting outside a temple in Subang Jaya, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.

The home minister said he was informed by Attorney General (AG) Tommy Thomas that the latter was invoking his powers under Section 339(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code to direct a magistrate to initiate the inquest.

"The public prosecutor will apply for the magistrate to set an early date for the hearing and to assist the magistrate in conducting the inquest,” Muhyiddin said in a statement.

"During the inquest proceedings, the magistrate has wide-ranging powers under Section 328 of the CPC to determine the cause of death, including to consider how the deceased died and whether the death was caused or exacerbated by an actions or unlawful omissions by others.”

Adib was attacked and grievously wounded on the second day of riots outside the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in USJ25, Subang Jaya on November 27 and succumbed to his injuries three weeks later on December 17.

While his death has been classified as murder, some including Jaringan Melayu Malaysia and PAS have accused the government of seeking to cover up the information surrounding his attack and demise.

PAS called today for a royal inquiry into Adib’s death while Jaringan Melayu Malaysia president Datuk Azwanddin Hamzah previously sought to rally the public to storm a police station over the incident.

The rescue worker’s death has become a lightning rod for groups seeking to find a racial element in the temple riots that the authorities have repeatedly insisted was a purely criminal matter stemming from a land dispute between a developer and the temple management.