The wife of murdered Democrat Party canvasser Chutidej Suwannakerd held a tearful press conference yesterday Dec. 13, where she proclaimed that the killing was motivated by politics.
Chutidej was gunned down by amotorcycle gunman in Bangkok’s Don Mueang district on Dec. 10.
“I can assure you his death was politically driven,” Chutidej’s widow Natthathai Khruangsai, 21, said through tears yesterday according to the Bangkok Post. Her five-year-old daughter with Chutidej was on her lap.
Chutidej reportedly worked for Pheu Thai MP for Don Mueang Karun Hosakul before switching allegiances to the Democrat Party and canvassing for failed election candidate Taenkhun Jit-issara.
Natthathai urged police not to believe that the murder was spurred by personal conflicts, as some including Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yubamrung have suggested.
She said that her husband was killed because he knew too much about the illegal businesses in Don Mueang.
Taenkhun, also at the press conference, revealed that Chutidej had told him about illegal casinos, sports betting shops, and lotteries in the district. He went further, saying that a man by the initial of “W” who was the right hand man of a politician with the initial “K” knew about the killing. “W” is a mafia boss in Don Mueang, Taenkhun said, and he hired a team of hitmen from Sukhothai. “W” has been in hiding with a powerful illegal casino owner since the killing, he added.
Karun’s name begins with the initial “K”, it must be noted. Karun denied any involvement with the murder on Sunday Dec. 11, according to MCOT.
“Don’t be afraid of bad people. They must not be above the law. I would like to call for justice. If possible I would like to file a complaint to the premier. However, I’ll be proud if my husband’s death can eradicate bad people from Don Mueang. Our family has only us three. It was too much to attack him before our eyes,” Natthathai said, according to the Nation.
Natthathai said that she doesn’t trust the investigation so far from the police.
Police have posited that Chutidej was killed over a dispute with a military chief of staff whose name begins with “B”, but she said this was unlikely since the military man had recently offered her husband financial assistance for a district council campaign he wanted to undertake. She did concede that her husband had a conflict with the man three years ago, though.
She also countered the theory that he was killed over his amulet making business, saying that it was a small business and legally registered.
Pol Col Charoen Srisalak said that the police still firmly believed that the murder stemmed from a personal dispute, and were thus pursuing that theory above others.
