KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 — Police have reclassified the death of a four-month-old baby girl in Taman Sri Saujana in Johor Bahru as murder, with the investigation papers referred to the Johor prosecution office for further action.

Johor police chief Datuk Ab Rahaman Arsad said the investigation was initially conducted under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001 for neglect resulting in the baby’s death, before being reclassified under Section 302 of the Penal Code following a post-mortem.

Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported that Rahaman said the post-mortem conducted at Pasir Gudang Hospital on August 2 found that the baby died from trauma to the abdomen and chest caused by a blunt object.

He said the completed investigation papers were referred to the Johor prosecution office yesterday, while police had received instructions to charge the baby’s step-grandmother under Section 302 at the Kota Tinggi Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.

“We received instructions to charge the victim’s step-grandmother under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder at the Kota Tinggi Magistrates’ Court tomorrow,” he said at a press conference at the Johor police headquarters.

Rahaman said police had detained the step-grandmother, as well as the baby’s grandfather and mother, to assist in investigations, with all three remanded from August 2 until tomorrow.

He said police received a report from a 39-year-old woman on July 31 claiming that the baby had been found dead while sleeping at the house.

Medical personnel who arrived at the scene attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the baby, but she was pronounced dead at 10.30am that day.

The baby had been under the care of her step-grandmother as her 18-year-old mother was still studying at college.