KLANG, Sept 23 (Bernama) -- S. Usharani, 27, the wife of an Indian millionaire businessman who has gone missing in Malaysia, on Thursday revealed to the media a recorded telephone conversation she has had with a lawyer who is a suspect in the co-called Banting murders.
Usharani played the two-minute telephone conversation recorded on her mobile telephone at a news conference held at the office of Kapar Member of Parliament S. Manikavasagam in Kapar near here.
The conversation, in Tamil and explained to reporters by lawyer Y. Murugan, was about Usharani's enquiries about the whereabouts of her husband, Allal Kanthan Muthuraja, 35.
Usharani said that during the conversation on Jan 28, the suspect claimed that he was in Thailand and would only be able to relate the whereabouts of her husband once he got back from there.
Reporters also listened to another recording, this time between Usharani and a man who claimed to be one ASP Suresh from the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters.
"ASP Suresh demanded RM1 million to free my husband because he claimed he (my husband) had been arrested for smuggling ketamine into the country," she said.
Usharani, who had flown in from Chennai, India, Wednesday, also said she had received a similar telephone call from a man who claimed to be one Inspector Muru from Bukit Aman.
Meanwhile, Manikavasagam said Usharani would hand over the recording to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar on Friday, at about 11.30am.
The Banting murders refer to the deaths of cosmetics millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya, 47, her driver Kamaruddin Shamsudin, 44, lawyer Ahmad Kamil Abdul Karim, 32, and CIMB Bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38, who went missing on Aug 30 after they went to Banting, Selangor, over a land deal.
Police found out that the four had been killed, their bodies burnt and the ashes thrown into rivers in the vicinity of Ladang Gadong near Banting, and picked up eight suspects, two of them lawyers, to facilitate investigations.
Selangor police chief Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said Wednesday the police had upgraded the investigation into Muthuraja's case from missing person to murder based on indicators and evidence gathered so far.
Usharani had lodged a report at the Banting police station on Sept 8 that Muthuraja went missing after he had arrived in Malaysia on Jan 18.
She also went to the Kuala Langat district police headquarters Thursday to give a statement.
-- BERNAMA
