KUALA LUMPUR: A 62-year-old woman and her nephew in his 30s, both from a prominent and wealthy family of lawyers, have been arrested in connection with last October’s high profile murder of corporate lawyer M. Thiruchelraegaran.

KHAIRI: The two have been remanded for six days to assist in investigations

Police picked up the two suspects from their homes here early last Saturday. In confirming this, Kuala Lumpur deputy CID chief ACP Khairi Ahrasa said the two have been remanded for six days to assist in investigations into the killing of Thiruchelraegaran, 75, who was also a member of the same family.

The woman, who has a legal firm in the city, has a road named after her in a pioneer housing estate in Cheras, while the man was until recently attached to a major legal firm here.

Police sources did not discount the possibility of more members of the same Seremban family being roped in for questioning, and declined comment when asked whether Thiruchelraegaran was a victim of an orchestrated hit.

However, sources said police have leads to a more sinister motive than plain robbery behind the murder.

The woman is among four of five sisters from a prominent Seremban family who are lawyers. Two of their brothers, one of whom has died, also embraced the legal fraternity while another is a doctor.

The non-lawyer sister married a popular political leader whose party reigned gloriously in Perak until his death in 1975.

Thiruchelraegaran was strangled by three assailants in the living room of his two-storey bungalow in exclusive Jalan Batai, Bukit Damansara, about 4am on Oct 30. The killers had also used a pillow to smother the victim.

His wife and maid, who were locked in a room, were unhurt.

The intruders had used shovels to force open the front door of the house. Police had said the intruders ransacked the house and escaped with an undisclosed amount of valuables.

Thiruchelraegaran, a practising lawyer, was scheduled to attend court that morning in connection with a bankruptcy case he had filed against a company.

It is not immediately known whether the murder was related to the bankruptcy case.

Thiruchelraegaran, who had a law firm in Seri Petaling, was a successful lawyer who had represented several high-profile corporate clients.

In 2000, he was accused of incest by his daughter, also a lawyer. He then filed a defamation suit against the woman lawyer who was detained last Saturday, alleging conspiracy to defame.

The High Court in Kuala Lumpur found the claim of incest to be not proven, even on the balance of probability.

The court detected a pattern of concerted actions by the defendant’s group to synchronise their attack on the plaintiff’s reputation and his profession, and ruled that this was with the sole objective of forcing the plaintiff to influence his wife to compromise on the settlement of the family’s property.

Thiruchelraegaran was awarded damages of RM3.5 million, but the Federal Court reduced the amount to RM500,000 on appeal by the defendants.