UPDATE: Selangor Police have just held a press conference to clarify that the two stepsons of dead Cradle CEO Nazrin Hassan are not under arrest, as was reported in several news outlets late last night and this morning.
Chief Mazlan Mansor told reporters:
“On (the) Cradle Fund (CEO’s case), I want to confirm here that there are no new arrests, as (had been) reported.”
Mazlan would not confirm where teenage boys were, saying the case was still under active investigation.
An inside source insists to Malay Mail that the teens were as reported, taken in yesterday; however, they were released shortly after.
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After the arrest of Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan’s wife and her ex-husband into his murder probe, the case has taken another unexpected twist with two of his teenage stepsons being arrested as well.
Police have said that their Wednesday night arrest from their grandfather’s house was in relation to injuries found on Nazrin’s neck consistent with those made with archery arrows. After learning that both boys partake in archery, as well as uncovering new leads following the interrogation of their parents in custody, the teens were detained .
Samirah Muzaffar, Nazrin’s wife and the daughter of a prominent Malaysian political scientist and Islamic reformist, Chandra Muzaffar, had been arrested a day earlier from her family home in the Taman Tun Dr Ismail neighborhood of Kuala Lumpur. Both sons were at home with her at the time of her arrest. Their father had been picked up by police one hour earlier, from his home in Sepang.
Found dead after being trapped in a fire in an upstairs room of his Mutiara Damansara house, Nazrin’s widely mourned death had initially been reported as due to the blunt-force trauma and subsequent fire caused by an exploding mobile phone, with even his former company issuing a statement confirming as much.
However, in August Selangor Fire and Rescue issued a statement refuting such claims, clarifying that at no time did they conclude, or suggest this in their investigations. They added that the suggestion of a phone causing his death had come from the victim’s family.
Authorities went on to say that lab results taken from the scene of the crime suggest that foul play was at hand, after traces of petrol were found in various spots of the bedroom where Nazrin was found.
Speaking to Malay Mail, an inside source revealed that petrol was found on the victim’s head, along the bed-frame, the mattress, as well as his mobile phone. Police then began to investigate the case as murder.
Shortly after police spoke new developments in the case, Samirah Muzaffar released a lengthy statement to the media, contradicting the claims that were made as inconsistent with the findings of her husband’s post-mortem, and also alleging that investigators largely kept her in the dark.
Outlining that forensic doctors at Kuala Lumpur Hospital confirmed that Nazrin sustained severe, blunt injuries to his head, she wrote that several smaller ones across his face, neck, chest, left shoulder, and to the back of his left hand were also logged – all of which were consistent with the effects of shrapnel injuries (alluding to original claims that he had died due to an exploding mobile phone).
The detailed report went on to conclude that her husband died from the severity of his injuries. There are no mentions of petrol traces found on his head, nor was he on any medication at the time – two claims that have been floated since his death.
Saying that she and her family have been cooperative with officials, she wrote that they had not been forthcoming with updates, nor had they returned certain personal belongings that were missing after the incident.
Concluding that her husband lived a life of integrity and transparency, she asks that the investigations into his death be conducted in consistency with these principles.
Recent developments have given this case more twists than the road up to Cameron Highlands: We’ll keep you posted on any new developments.
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