This was revealed by sources close to the investigation, who told the daily that the man had in the past been investigated for alleged involvement in serious crimes, including causing injury and robbery, as well as drug abuse.
“Checks on the man’s background revealed that he had allegedly been the subject of investigations in at least 10 cases.
“The first was in 2009, allegedly for drug abuse. He was also arrested in 2013, under Section 324 of the Penal Code (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), and at another time for alleged robbery,” NST quoted the source as saying.
As a result of this latest development in the high-profile assault case, police are said to be considering using the Prevention of Crime Act (POCA) in order to be able to detain him for a longer period, without a need to get a remand order.
Last Friday, at about 6.30 am, three Rela members – Melvin Cheong Mun Khai, 19; Lee Weng Poh, 27; and Leong Jiun Jie, 21; – were injured on the head, eye and abdomen after they were allegedly hit and kicked by the “Datuk Seri”.
The assault took place right after the Rela members, who were on duty at a temple in Kampung Baru Ampang, asked the man to move his Toyota Vellfire as the vehicle was obstructing traffic.
It was later reported that he had allegedly offered to pay each man RM10,000 in exchange for them withdrawing their police report against him.
Meanwhile, NST also reported another source familiar with the previous cases as saying that investigations had been completed but “the suspect was never prosecuted for the alleged offences”.
‘Datuk Seri made RM10,000 offer to Rela men to withdraw police report’