New twist as pathologist’s lawyer puts blame on another accused

KUALA LUMPUR: A new twist emerged during the murder trial of deputy public prosecutor Datuk Anthony Kevin Morais yesterday when the counsel representing pathologist Colonel Dr R. Kunaseegaran, who was charged with abetment, tried to put the blame on the seventh accused, S. Ravichandran.

However, Ravichandran, 47, denied his involvement in the murder and maintained his innocence when he was bombarded with questions by Dr Kunaseegaran’s lawyer, Jay Moy Wei Jiun, during the cross-examination at the High Court.

Ravichandran, who worked as a loan shark before he was arrested, said he merely followed instructions given by G. Gunasekaran, also known as Jay, and knew nothing about the murder.

“I am not the mastermind in this murder as I don’t not know anything about Kevin (Morais) before the accident near Jalan Dutamas.

“Jay told me about him (Morais) after the accident, which took place near the traffic light.

“I agreed that we (Jay and Ravichandran) travelled in the same car during the day of the incident but I did not asked him to drive to Jalan Dutamas,” he said.

Ravichandran denied that he had planned the accident between Morais’ Perdana V6 and the Mitsubishi Triton driven by another accused, S. Nimalan. He said there was a “minor” scuffle between him and Jay when the latter decided to dispose of Morais’ car in Hutan Melintang in Perak between 7am on Sept 4 and 2am on Sept 5. “I admitted that we — Nimalan, R. Dineshwaran, A.K. Thinesh Kumar, and M. Vishwanath — went to Hutan Melintang with Morais’ car, but I did not know Jay was going to burn the car.

“I asked him (the reason) but he told me he would explain later,” he said.

Dinishwaran, 23, Thinesh Kumar, 22, Vishwanath, 25, Nimalan, 22, and Ravichandran, were jointly charged with murdering Morais, 55, between 7am and 8pm on Sept 4, 2015, while the victim was on his way from Jalan Dutamas Raya Sentul to No. 1 Jalan USJ 1/6D, Subang Jaya.

They face mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

Dr Kunaseegaran, 54, was charged with abetting in the murder of Morais.

Deputy public prosecutor Saiful Edris Zainuddin conducted prosecution while the accused are represented by counsel M. Manoharan, Rajehgopal and G. Sivakumar.

Morais’ body was found in a drum filled with concrete at Persiaran Subang Mewah, Subang Jaya, on Sept 16, 2015.

He was reported missing on Sept 4 and was last seen leaving his condominium in Menara Duta, here, for work in Putrajaya by driving a Proton Perdana car with registration number WA6264Q.

Trial continues on Sept 26 before judge Datuk Azman Abdullah.