Tragic Thaipusam for cop’s family

KUALA LUMPUR: Former lorry driver Veeramogen M. James had two things going for him – his love for life despite losing a leg in an accident and the love for his family.

On Saturday evening, the 55-year-old from Selayang Heights endured a more painful loss when his only son, Divendran (pic), a constable with the Negri Sembilan police, was found murdered in a drain at the Batu Caves roundabout — discovered by his own brother!

The last time Veeramogen saw his 25-year-old son at home was last Wednesday.

“About 7.30pm that day, he said he wanted to go out for a while with friends to the Batu Caves temple to check out an outlet for one of them to operate a barber shop during Thaipusam.”

When Divendran did not return, Veeramogen said he did not suspect anything amiss as it was normal for his son to be absent from home for two to three days once in a while due to his work as a policeman.

“He travelled daily from our home to Seremban. He would park his car at the Puduraya bus terminal before taking a bus to Seremban.”

On Saturday night, the “routine” was shattered when Veeramogan’s brother, a Shah Alam police inspector, told him Divendran had been found dead.

“I was shivering and cried soon after that. How could he be murdered and why was he murdered?”

Veeramogen and his wife, married for 30 years, have two children — Divendran and a 29-year-old daughter. “He never mixed with wrong company. He was the one who caught the bad guys.”

Veeramogen’s brother, who only wanted to be known as Jaya, said he happened to be passing by the scene on his motorcycle on the way to Veeramogen’s house after work.

“As I was approaching the Batu Caves roundabout, I saw many people around the spot and one of them, who knows me, told me about a body in the drain.” Jaya said he checked the body and alerted police, adding it was covered and bloated.

“Looking at the body, I remembered about my nephew who was missing for three days and called my brother.”

He said from descriptions of the shoes and shirt, he later realised it was the body of his missing nephew.

Sentul district police chief ACP Zakaria Pagan said a post-mortem at KL Hospital revealed the victim died due to internal wounds on the head caused by being hit by a heavy or blunt object.

“No arrest has been made so far and we are still tracing his friends who were the last persons with Divendran before he went missing.”

It was reported Divendran’s wallet and two of his three handphones were missing.