KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 — Lawyers representing the families of three men shot dead by police in Melaka last month have said the state police chief appears to be attempting to divert public attention from the core issue of the case by commenting on the personal background of a woman linked to one of the deceased.

In a statement today, Rajesh Nagarajan and Sachpreetraj Singh said remarks by Melaka police chief Datuk Dzulkhairi Mukhtar regarding the marital status and alleged past criminal record of Jayashree — who is connected to G. Logeswaran and recorded audio related to the incident — were irrelevant and inappropriate.

“Whether Jayashree was legally married or had any prior record is entirely irrelevant to the killing of three men by police gunfire on November 24, 2025,” the lawyers said.

They stressed that the issue before the public was not the personal lives of individuals linked to the case, but the conduct of law enforcement officers and the legality of the use of lethal force.

“This is not an inquiry into moral or personal relationships. This is an inquiry into state-perpetrated killing,” the statement said.

The shooting incident occurred at about 4.30am on November 24 at an oil palm plantation in Durian Tunggal, when three men aged between 24 and 29 were shot dead after one of them allegedly swung a machete at a police corporal.

The officer, who is in his early 30s, sustained serious injuries to his left arm.

Police have said the suspects were believed to be part of the Durian Tunggal Gang and were allegedly on their way to commit a robbery at the time of the incident. They were said to have been active since 2024 and linked to 20 cases in Melaka and one case each in Negeri Sembilan and Selangor, with total losses estimated at RM1.35 million.

However, on December 3, family members of the three men disputed police claims that the suspects had acted violently or attacked officers, raising concerns over the circumstances that led to the fatal shooting.

A special team was subsequently formed on December 4 to investigate the families’ allegations and dissatisfaction with police actions.

Against this backdrop, the lawyers said public focus on personal details unrelated to the shooting appeared calculated to smear the deceased and their families while distracting from key questions surrounding the use of lethal force.

They described the remarks as “unbecoming of a senior law enforcement officer” and said they risked undermining public confidence in the integrity of the investigation.

More troubling, they said, was that statements from the police officers who fired the fatal shots have yet to be recorded.

“While the police chief finds time to comment on irrelevant personal details, statements from the officers who fired the fatal shots have yet to be recorded,” the lawyers said, adding that this raised “serious questions about transparency, impartiality, and possible institutional self-protection”.

The families, through their lawyers, questioned who authorised the use of lethal force, whether there was any lawful excuse, and why there appeared to be resistance to an independent investigation.

They also questioned why the Melaka police chief continued to issue public statements on the case when investigations have since been taken over by Bukit Aman.

“He has no business interfering in the matter or issuing such statements,” the lawyers said.

The statement concluded that no discussion of personal background could detract from what they described as the central issue.

“No amount of character assassination or moral policing will obscure the central fact: three lives were taken without any legal basis, and the police must be held fully accountable under the rule of law,” they said.