The Court of Appeal has allowed the exhumation of the remains of Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Nazrin Hassan in light of new evidence regarding his death.

This is after the court dismissed the deceased's second wife Samirah Muzaffar's motion to vary the Shah Alam High Court order last Thursday.

Justice Mohtaruddin Baki, who led the three-member bench, said: "There is no merit in the motion."

Following the decision, police's forensic team personnel are already at the Kota Damansara cemetery to carry out the exhumation process.

Earlier, Samirah also failed to get a stay of the order at the Shah Alam High Court.

Samirah's lawyer M Puravalen told the court the family wanted retired pathologist Dr Bhupinder Singh to be present during the exhumation and second post-mortem.

The wife was seeking leave (permission) from the Court of Appeal for this.

However, DPP Jamil Aripin said following the conclusion of the court case that a family member can be present, the subject of Bhupinder's presence depends on the approval of the pathologist conducting the second post-mortem.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the exhumation process was completed at 12.45pm.

The report quoted Selangor police chief Mazlan Mansor saying that Nazrin's body has been taken to the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre for a second post-mortem. 

According to Selangor Criminal Investigation Department head SAC Fadzil Ahmat, the second autopsy body would be conducted this afternoon.

Nazrin, 45, died in a fire that broke out at his two-storey house in Mutiara Damansara on June 14.

Police reclassified Nazrin’s death as murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code on August 3, following a forensic investigation report by the Fire and Rescue Department, which cited suspected foul play.