KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 19 — The police have obtained a seven-day remand order on a 26-year-old local man suspected of violently attacking a woman whose bag he also stole while in a lift at the Taman Mutiara MRT station on February 14.

Cheras district police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohamed Mokhsein Mohamed Zon said the suspect’s remand starts today.

“A remand order was applied at the Dang Wangi police headquarters this morning.

“The suspect will be held till February 25 to facilitate investigations,” he told reporters.

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The case is being investigated under Section 394 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing hurt in a robbery, which provides for a jail term of up to 20 years, fine and whipping upon conviction.

The suspect was arrested at a house in Taman Cheras 8.10pm yesterday by the Serious Crimes Investigation Department team known as D9 from the Cheras district police headquarters.

Early police investigations revealed that the suspect had robbed a 24-hour convenience store near the MRT station at about 6.30am, some 15 minutes before robbing the victim in the lift last Thursday.

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A 57-second closed-circuit television camera recording of the incident has since gone viral.

The clip shows the man following the 48-year-old woman into the lift and unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks before running away with her belongings.

The victim suffered injuries to several parts of her body and swelling on her forehead.

Shocked by the incident, Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng offered a bounty of RM10,000 for any information which could help authorities nab the robber.

It is not immediately known if anyone has claimed the bounty.

MRT operator Prasarana Malaysia Berhad (Prasarana) in a statement yesterday said CCTV recordings inside lifts are now displayed directly to staff on duty as an extra precautionary measure following the robbery.

It said the images were pre-set on the main screen so that any incident could be viewed and known faster.

In addition, the company said it has increased the number of Special Action Taskforce (SAT) members at hotspot areas.

The SAT team is a special unit set up by Prasarana’s security department, with staff dressed in plainclothes when on patrol duty.