KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — Inspector- General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has instructed the current investigation on T. Nhaveen to be reclassified as murder following the 18-year-old’s death this evening.
The country’s top policeman said he was shocked by the Penangite’s death and expressed his condolences to the teenager’s family.
“I am deeply shocked and saddened by the demise of T. Nhaveen. As a father, I too feel the immense grief which the late teenager’s family members are experiencing at this moment.
“His family lost a son, and the nation lost an ambitious young man.
“I have ordered my team to reclassify Nhaveen’s case as murder. I will personally make sure that we bring the victim’s assaulters to face justice,” Khalid told Malay Mail Online in a text message.
Murder, which falls under Section 302 of the Penal Code, carries a mandatory death sentence upon conviction.
Penang police had been investigating the case under Section 147 for rioting which is punishable with jail up to two years, or a fine, or both, and Section 377CA of the Penal Code which criminalises the sexual connection by object, whereby an object is inserted into the vagina or anus of another person without consent.
Those found guilty can be punished with a jail term between five and 30 years and whipping.
Nhaveen, who was savagely beaten up and sodomised with an object last Saturday, was declared dead at 6pm today.
The unconscious teen was admitted to the intensive care unit at the Penang Hospital in George Town with massive injuries, including burnt marks on his back and a torn anus following the violent attack by a group of five other boys aged between 16 and 18.
He was believed to have been the victim of chronic bullying by schoolmates before that.
Nhaveen’s friend, T. Previin, 19, who was also being attacked on June 10 escaped when the initial two attackers hauled the 18-year-old off to a field in Jalan Kaki Bukit where three other teenagers later joined in the assault.
The five attackers are currently under police custody.
Three of them have completed Form Five and are waiting for SPM results while two are currently in Form Five.
The five teenagers are believed to be involved in another assault case involving another 19-year-old boy back in May and have been further detained for investigations into the case.
