PUTRAJAYA: A former police officer escaped the gallows after the Court of Appeal acquitted and discharge him of murdering a trader in 2014.

A three-judged panel, consisting Justices Datuk Ahmad Zaidi Ibrahim, Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan and Datuk Noorin Badaruddin, today unanimously allowed S.Selva Kumar’s appeal to overturn both his murder conviction and the death sentence imposed by the High Court.

The panel acquitted and discharged Selva, 47, for the murder of S. Shanker Ganesh, 23, at Kuil Batu 8, in Sungai Gadut, Senawang, Seremban between 2 pm and 7 pm on Feb 22, 2014.

In delivering the court’s decision, Justice Noorin said there were contradictions in the evidences given of three prosecution witnesses, leading to insufficient credible evidence to prove that Selva had shot the deceased to death.

She said without scientific evidence to corroborate their claims, Selva’s conviction remains unsafe.

Justice Noorin further said that the prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence to show any intent or knowledge on Selva’s part concerning the murder.

“There were material contractions regarding who witnessed the shooting, who buried the deceased’s body, when the appellant (Selva) was present at the scene, when the deceased was said to be buried and how the deceased was shot,” she said.

She said the cause of the deceased’s death had not been determined, adding that there was also no confirmation as to whom the two bone fragments that were found near the crime scene, belong to, since the DNA profile could not be obtained.

Justice Noorin said a reasonable doubt arose on whether it was the deceased body that was discovered from the place showed by a prosecution witness or that the skeleton found was that of the deceased and no one else.

The Seremban High Court convicted Selva in March 2022, sentencing him to death, leading him to appeal the decision.

According to the facts of the case, a police report was filed by the deceased’s wife on February 25, 2014, claiming that her husband had been arrested by the police. However, upon visiting the Seremban District Police Headquarters, she was informed that her husband had not been detained.

The wife then received a call from a close friend of the deceased, who claimed that Selva Kumar had allegedly arrested the deceased.

Subsequent police investigations led to the arrest of a man who confessed that he, with two others, had buried a corpse at Batu 8 Temple in Sungai Gadut.

The man then led a police team to the area and showed them the spot where the body was buried. They carried out a dig and found bone fragments. The police then arrested Selva in May 2018, more than four years after the incident.

In the court proceedings, lawyer Datuk Rajpal Singh represented Selva while Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Fuad Abdul Aziz appeared for the prosecution.