Any custodial death must always be considered circumspect and should invite close and meticulous scrutiny as to the possibility of foul play.

The custodial death of Kugan Ananthan therefore, is very worrying and needs full explanation and disclosure to the satisfaction of all fair-minded Malaysians. That this is one highly publicised case among many other custodial deaths (1,535 from 2003 to 2007!) must alert us to the possibility of a sustained if tacit condonement of such practices by the highest echelon of our police or even government authorities.