Lawyer Haresh Mahadevan, representing two of the accused, said the prosecution filed its notice of discontinuance in the Court of Appeal registry three days ago.

“As such, today’s scheduled appeal hearing has been vacated,” he told FMT.

On Aug 5, 2022, Justice Azman Abdullah, then a High Court judge, acquitted former assistant superintendent of police S Selvakumar, 47, brothers N Rajasakanan, 45, N Sureshkannah, 44, and N Thanabalan, 37, and R Veeramuthu, 58, after ruling that the prosecution had failed to establish a prima facie case against them.

They were accused of killing K Thinesh, M Tansewaran and P Kartisan in an oil palm plantation at Jalan Seremban-Mantin in February 2015.

In his judgment, Azman, who now sits in the Court of Appeal, said it was unsafe to rely solely on the testimony of key prosecution witness S Duraiselvam, who had led police to discover the skeletal remains of the dead men in a shallow grave.

The brothers worked as scrap metal dealers while Veeramuthu was a lorry driver.

The victims’ families lodged police reports on their disappearance in 2015.

The five accused and Duraiselvam were arrested three years later for gang-related offences. Further investigations appeared to link them to the murders.

Duraiselvam was not charged but was held under a preventive law for two years from 2018 and turned prosecution witness.

Haresh and Ramzani Idris appeared for Sureshkannah and Thanabalan, KL Chee represented Selvakumar, while Paul Krishnaraja and Amy Chong acted for Veeramuthu and Rajasakanan.