Indonesian media outlet Tempo has obtained exclusive video footages of the acid attack on Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) senior investigator Novel Baswedan in April, a case that remains unsolved to this day.
One of the videos is CCTV footage confirming what Novel and other eyewitnesses claimed happen on April 11: the graft buster is shown leaving his neighborhood mosque after dawn prayer and is then splashed with acid by two men on a motorcycle before they immediately fled the scene.
The second video is a CCTV footage from Novel’s residence taken before the attack on the afternoon of April 5. It shows a man coming to Novel’s house asking if Novel’s wife (who owns a business selling Islamic garments) sells Islamic robes for men. He then leaves after being told that Novel’s wife only sells Islamic clothing for women.
Curiously, the man was identified as Ahmad Lestaluhu, who would later be interrogated by the police as a potential suspect for Novel’s acid attack. However, he was later released because his alibi of “watching TV at the time of the acid attack” proved to be sufficient for the police.
Novel has voiced his frustration over the length of the police’s investigation into his case, culminating in him revealing to the media his suspicion that a police general was behind his attack. His allegation strengthens suspicions that the attack was motivated by his involvement in one of KPK’s biggest investigations ever after it accused dozens of high-level politicians of taking part in a scheme to rob the state of $170 million worth of misappropriated funds from the program for the country’s new electronic identity cards (e-KTP).
Novel was sent to Singapore for treatment on his eyes shortly after the acid attack. Unfortunately, Novel’s left eye has been left blind while his right eye has not fully healed.
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