AN ongoing police investigation is now focusing on who might benefit from the suspicious death in custody of Tawatchai Anukul, a suspect in an illegal land-deeds case.

Tawatchai, 66, died while in custody of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) on August 30, less than a day after he was arrested on charges of illegitimately issuing land title deeds worth about Bt10billion.

Thung Song Hong police station superintendent Pol Colonel Mana Pohchuay yesterday said police had already come up with the list of persons who might have a motive to have Tawatchai killed. “But we can’t disclose details yet,” he said.

It has been widely speculated since Tawatchai’s death that someone might have wanted to silence him before he could implicate accomplices or masterminds in the title-deeds scam.

The DSI initially said Tawatchai committed suicide by hanging himself with his socks from a door hinge inside a detention cell and that officials tried to save his life by taking him down and calling Mongkutwattana General Hospital for help. However, an autopsy concluded the cause of death was “abdominal haemorrhaging and a ruptured liver from being hit by a solid, blunt object”.

In the meantime, the DSI has maintained a low profile and let police as well as a fact-finding panel set up by the Justice Ministry help determine exactly what happened.

Police yesterday interviewed Wannachai Promrak, a deputy director at the DSI, for more than three hours to study details of the investigation into Tawatchai’s alleged wrongdoings.

“Such information shows who will likely benefit from his death,” Mana said.

He added that the investigation into Tawatchai’s death had progressed significantly, “but we will have to interview more persons, some for the second time”.

Mana said two senior DSI officials had yet to testify. “One of them says he has prior engagements while the other is on leave,” he said.

Mongkutwattana General Hospital director Maj-General Dr Rienthong Nanna complained on his Facebook page that the DSI had never mentioned any attempted suicide when it called for medical help for Tawatchai.

He also called for a full investigation into the cause of Tawatchai’s death, before any unclear information might mislead the public into believing that medical malpractice was a factor.

“If there is a second autopsy on the body, I will join it,” Rienthong said.

 

However, he insisted that police could not conclude at this point whether Tawatchai was murdered. “Please do not assume that a death caused by another person is equal to murder,” he said.

Tawatchai died on August 30 while in the custody of the Department of Special Investigation over allegations of illegally issuing title deeds worth at least Bt10 billion. His death has raised many questions, with the DSI suggesting that he committed suicide and a preliminary autopsy showing that he succumbed to asphyxiation and also a ruptured liver.

After the autopsy results became public, the Mongkutwattana General Hospital firmly denied that resuscitation steps taken to revive Tawatchai could have caused such injuries.

The DSI summoned the medical team in the early hours of August 30, after DSI officials reportedly found Tawatchai hanging from his socks and in a critical condition. Two doctors from the hospital met police again yesterday.

Thung Song Hong Police Station’s superintendent Pol Colonel Mana Pohchuay said there was solid evidence that the three or four injuries on Tawatchai’s body were not self-inflicted.

“We can’t conclude yet whether these injuries were caused by accident or by a murderer,” Mana said. He explained that more evidence, including CCTV camera footage, was required before police can conclude the investigation.

Today, the Central Institute of Forensic Medicine will have Tawatchai’s body scanned to check for broken bones and any other injuries. The scan is part of an ongoing probe led by the Justice Ministry’s fact-finding panel, which includes many medical experts. Meanwhile, national police chief Pol General Chakthip Chaijinda said people should not try to see beyond the police department’s words that “Tawatchai’s death was caused by another person but was not murder”.

He said that police still need to determine who caused the death.

A police source explained yesterday that the police description could mean that an accident or error by another person had led to the death. The source said it was important for the investigation to determine the time Tawatchai sustained the fatal injury.

The source added that since the investigation was only concerned with the cause of death, no one has been identified as a suspect. If there is a court ruling that Tawatchai was indeed killed by someone, then it could lead to a criminal investigation and the question of who committed the crime, the source said.

 

The panel has also ordered a CT scan of the corpse’s skeleton to help them to identify the cause of death by next week.

After the committee met yesterday, panel head Wisit Wisitsora-at, chief of the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection, said three experts on abdominal treatments and two on artificial resuscitation yesterday joined the panel to review the case, crime-scene photographs and the autopsy report.

The committee could not determine the cause of death yesterday because further investigation was required, he said.

“Although we have an initial idea about what might have caused the liver to rupture and larynx to fracture, we cannot reveal it until we have a clear conclusion. Some points cannot be clarified by science alone, but have to be combined with witness testimonies,” Wisit said.

He added that additional information from the Office of Police Forensic Science and Bangkok’s Thung Song Hong Police Station had not yet been submitted, but the results should be clarified by next week. He also said there was no need to perform a second autopsy on Tawatchai’s body at present.

“The panel has told the Central Institute of Forensic Science to conduct a CT scan on the corpse’s entire body, which will be done on Friday. Since the panel will have to wait for the scan results, the work timeframe could be extended by another 15 days,” he said.

However, he said, they should be able to come to a conclusion on the cause of death by next week and the panel would meet again on Tuesday.

The 66-year-old Tawatchai, who was accused of illegally issuing title deeds worth Bt10 billion, died on August 30 – one day after he was taken into custody by the DSI.

A source said the five medical experts called in yesterday were General Dr Parinya Thavichaigarn, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand; Dr Preecha Sirithongthaworn and Dr Rattaplee Pak-Art from Siriraj Hospital; and Pol Colonel Sopon Krisanarangsan and Dr Parinya Khunnawuth from the Heart Association of Thailand’s Resuscitation Council.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister General Paiboon Koomchaya called on everyone to wait for the results of the investigation.

“I believe the forensic evidence and the autopsy report will help [to clarify the cause of Tawatchai’s death] because nobody else was at the scene other than the accused … we have to wait for forensic results from the DSI, hospital and forensic science agency,” he said.

The minister said he would not interfere with either the police investigation or the DSI internal probe, adding that the guilty would be punished and justice assured.

Prominent forensic doctor, Khunying Dr Porntip Rojanasunan, as the committee’s adviser, said doctors will meet today to discuss the timing of the injury.

Porntip said the liver ruptured due to blunt force trauma. She said there was no bruising on that part of the body, only on his ribs.

It is still unclear whether Tawatchai committed suicide or was hanged, she said.

She said she wanted to check Tawatchai’s fractured larynx as the autopsy did not open the neck area and she was unsure about the ligature mark position.

Porntip said the hospital’s X-ray film showed Tawatchai’s ribs were intact but the autopsy report said his ribs – the 2nd to 6th on the right and the 2nd to 7th on the left – were broken.

Meanwhile, Bangkok’s Thung Song Hong Police Station superintendent Pol Colonel Mana Pohchuay said investigators had nearly completed the interview of witnesses and people of interest, including over 10 DSI officers.

They also received the autopsy result from the Police General Hospital’s Institute of Forensic Medicine, which was in line with the earlier reported cause of death as a ruptured liver.

He said investigators would invite the doctor who conducted the autopsy to testify tomorrow.

Tawatchai, 66, died on August 30, a day after he was detained by the DSI.

He was accused of illegally issuing title deeds worth about Bt10 billion.

Police are investigating the death of Tawatchai, 66, to determine whether he was murdered in custody or committed suicide, as initially claimed by the DSI. He succumbed to a ruptured liver and asphyxiation a day after DSI officials arrested him on August 29.

Public doubts have been growing following the incident, particularly after the DSI failed to present recordings from its CCTV.

“Our CCTV system, which is linked to 49 security cameras, has worked properly but its server is faulty. It can’t efficiently record what happened,” DSI chief Pol Colonel Paisit Wongmuang announced at a press conference yesterday.

He said the DSI had discovered the server problem in April this year and had signed a contract to improve the whole CCTV system on May 30.

“Under the contract, the improvement will be completed by October 27,” Paisit said. “During the improvement, the CCTV system can only provide real-time monitoring”.

He explained that the DSI did not comment on Tawatchai’s case over the past 10 days because police and the fact-finding committee set up by the Justice Ministry were investigating the suspicious death.

“But I can tell you that such an incident had never happened at the DSI before, and that the DSI has no need to protect wrongdoing officials, if any,” Paisit said.

He said the socks allegedly used by Tawatchai to hang himself were of shank-length, adding that they appeared ankle-length because they were loose.

According to the Mongkutwattana General Hospital, the DSI called for help in the early hours of August 30, reporting that a suspect had fainted and became unconscious. They learned from news reports later that the DSI claimed Tawatchai had hanged himself with his socks.

Tawatchai was accused of issuing illegal title deeds worth more than Bt10 billion. Given the extent of his alleged crimes, there was widespread speculation that he might have been silenced before he could implicate his accomplices.

Paisit said, “After 6pm, people can enter the DSI facility via the door on the ground floor only. Importantly, the entrance door will open to just authorised persons by checking their key ID cards.” He added that only one elevator was allowed to operate after 6pm.

As well, only authorised officials using key ID cards could enter the electronically locked gate at the detention-cell zone.

“The detention cells are locked. Safety locks are in place and only officials hold keys to the cells,” he said.

Paisit said he had already forwarded to police recordings from the ground floor cameras and still photos showing how medical help was given to Tawatchai inside the DSI facility on August 30.

An informed source said the recordings showed the ambulance arrived at DSI at 1.17am and the medical team rushed into the elevator. “The elevator opened its door again at 1.24am with the team rushing out with a patient. The ambulance left at 1.27am,” the source said.

Police interrogated two security guards of the DSI again yesterday.