KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Police reportedly said today that the officer investigating the death of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir did not follow procedure by failing to request a post-mortem as the case involved suspicious circumstances.
According to Free Malaysia Today, Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Datuk M Kumar said the examination should have been sought even though Zara’s mother had signed a statutory declaration declining it.
“The investigating officer should have applied for one,” he was quoted as saying at a press conference at the Bukit Aman police headquarters today.
He reportedly said the officer and his superior will be referred to the police’s integrity and standards compliance department over the lapse.
Earlier today, the Attorney-General’s Chambers directed an inquest into Zara’s death, which is now being probed by a Bukit Aman CID task force.
Zara was found unconscious on July 16 after allegedly falling from the third floor of her school hostel in Papar, Sabah, and died the following day, with her mother later reporting bruises on her body.
