The injuries sustained by prisoner Chandran Muniandy are due to a fall, and not due to beatings, Penang police said today.

The Star Online quoted South Seberang Prai police chief Supt Shafee Abdul Samad as saying that the 42-year-old inmate had fallen in the toilet, injuring his head, while his “missing” toenails were because they were removed in the prison clinic due to a skin disease.

He further dismissed claims of abuse behind bars and said Chandran was a psychiatric patient.

Chandran’s mother Pachaee Pakiry, 58, had made a police report on Saturday, alleging her odd-job worker son was beaten up in prison.

She had said that he was healthy when he went into prison on Jan 20 after being sentenced to six months in jail for causing hurt with a dangerous weapon. She also questioned how he had landed in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Seberang Jaya hospital last Wednesday with a head injury and missing toenails.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy had also urged the authorities to look into the matter as the injuries did not seem to have been self-inflicted.

The portal also quoted Penang prisons director SAC Kamarudzaman Mamat as saying that Chandran was undergoing psychiatric evaluation, and was in solitary confinement due to mental instability.

“There was no way he could have been beaten by other prisoners or warders as he was not in contact with any of them during the solitary confinement and evaluation.”

Kamarudzaman had said that they have also started a domestic inquiry into the matter, besides the police investigation.

Chandran’s case comes just days after the custodial death of detainee S Balamurugan at the North Klang district police headquarters on Feb 8.