Malaysia Notes

KUALA LUMPUR: Private investigator P. Balasubramaniam could have been detained by "interested parties", say police.

While not explaining "interested parties", Federal Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk Bakri Zinin said Balasubramaniam could also be in hiding as he was afraid of police action.

Bakri, however, in stressing that they need to speak to him, assured him of his safety.

"If he is afraid that we will arrest him if he turns up, then he can come with his lawyer.

"We need his help to investigate both his statutory declarations (SDs)."

Balasubramaniam, a former Special Branch detective, is being sought after he filed two contradictory SDs within four days.

On Thursday, in the company of Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and lawyer Americk Singh Sidhu, he linked Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to murdered Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Fewer than 24 hours later, however, he filed another SD retracting the earlier document.

Then, accompanied by a new lawyer, M. Arulampalam, he distributed copies of the second SD at a news conference at a hotel here.

On the same day, he went missing with his wife and three children from their home in Rawang.

The family has been unreachable since then, prompting Balasubramaniam's ne-phew, R. Kumarasan, to lodge a missing person's report at the Brickfields police station on Saturday.

Bakri said police were investigating whether Balasubramaniam and his family were in the country.

"There are no indications that they have left the country. We will seek help from Interpol and Aseanapol to track them if they have left our shores.

"We will also speak to the two lawyers (Americk and Arulampalam) who dealt with Balasubramaniam in his two SDs to help our probe".

Balasubramaniam was one of the early witnesses in the Shaariibuu murder trial. Before the case went to court, he was arrested for almost a week and investigated for her murder.

Bakri appealed to those who know the whereabouts of Balasubramaniam and his family to contact the RakanCop hotline at 03-21159999.


'Better if he is under police custody'

KUALA LUMPUR: "I would be glad if he was under police custody because, that way, I would at least know that he was safe." This was the reaction of P. Ramakrishnan, 60, the brother-in-law of P. Balasubramaniam, who is now at the top of the police wanted list.

"There has been no news from him or his family since Friday. I have checked with all our relatives but none of them has seen the family."

Ramakrishnan's son, Kumaresan, had on Saturday lodged a report at the Brickfields police station about his missing uncle and his family.

Kumaresan had spoken to Balasubramaniam's wife S. Sentamil Selvi on Thursday after the private eye released his first statutory declaration at the PKR headquarters.

He had said that she sounded fine then but almost immediately after his uncle made public his second SD on Friday, he had tried calling the couple numerous times but they did not respond.

At Ramakrishnan's house in Batu Caves yesterday, Kumaresan's elder sister R. Premavathy, 34, said she had been calling the couple every hour since Friday but her calls got diverted to voice mail.

"I left voice messages asking them to call back but to no avail."

Balasubramaniam and Sentamil Selvi have three children: Kishen, 11, Menaga, 9, and Rishi, 6.

The two older children go to a vernacular school in Rawang while the third attends kindergarten where Sentamil Selvi teaches.

Premavathy said: "Tomorrow (Monday) is a school day and I'm worried about their children."

Checks at the family's house in Taman Pelangi, Rawang, revealed it was locked, with a car parked in the porch and two dogs in cages.

A neighbour who only wanted to be known as Raja said only reporters and photographers had been to the house since Friday.

Balasubramaniam is from Slim River, Perak. He has one sibling, who is Ramakrishnan's wife.