KUALA LUMPUR, May 31 — Police are still scouring the Klang River for a suspect who beheaded a toddler in a gruesome attack here on Thursday night, where they believe he drowned in his bid to escape capture.
Kuala Lumpur CID chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Gan Kong Meng said a composite image of the suspect based on witnesses’ description may be released on Monday if police are unable to locate any signs of the man.
“Police have disseminated the description of the suspect to all stations and officers, and a manhunt has been launched to track him.
“We are combing Sungai Klang for the suspect, who we believe had drowned. But, if there is no sign of his body in three days’ time, his photofit will be released,” Gan was quoted as saying yesterday by local daily New Straits Times (NST).
The suspect, believed to be an Indian man, jumped into the river while fleeing from a group of witnesses who rushed to save the toddler after seeing him assault her, police said yesterday.
The police’s search for the suspect’s body is being conducted with the help of the Fire and Rescue Department, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) and the Civil Defence Department.
When asked if the toddler’s mother would face legal action for negligence, Gan’s deputy Khairi Ahrasa did not rule out the possibility, but said it would only be done after the “mourning period”.
According to NST, Khairi also denied that the girl was murdered in a ritual killing.
Yesterday, Gan said they are still investigating the motive behind the incident, which has been classified as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.
Gan said the child, aged two years and six months, went missing after her 32-year-old mother, who was at the Kotaraya shopping mall with a few friends at around 3pm on Thursday, went to the toilet.
Police said that a witness saw a man, initially believed to be a dark-skinned foreigner, leading the child away from a shopping centre near Pudu Sentral.
The decapitated body of the girl was found beside the Klang river along Jalan Hishammuddin on Thursday night. Her head was severed and found near her body, reports said.
