After receiving autopsy reports compiled by Bangkok’s Thung Song Hong Police Station and the Justice Ministry on November 15, the court scheduled four sessions of witness testimony hearings on February 20, February 27, March 6 and March 20, the source said.
Another source reported that Tawatchai had died from internal bleeding, a ruptured liver caused by blunt force trauma, and asphyxiation.
On October 28, Thung Song Hong police submitted to the prosecutor four files that make up the autopsy report, X-rays and the investigators’ opinion that “Tawatchai’s death had been caused by another person”.
Tawatchai had been under investigation after complaints were filed regarding the issuing of deeds for more than 1,000 plots of state land in Phuket, which were allegedly illegally registered. As the probe was ongoing, Tawatchai was transferred to the Phang Nga Provincial Land Department, after which his successor in Phuket was abducted and found shot dead.
DSI officers had arrested Tawatchai in Nonthaburi in late August, but he was found dead in a detention cell a day later. DSI officials initially said he had hanged himself.