The suspect, aged 31, died at 12.30pm yesterday, after being admitted to Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital (HSB) with serious injuries to his nape, face, ears, body and legs after being assaulted by members of the public.

Kedah police chief Asri Yusoff said police arrested four men and a woman, in their 20s, around here yesterday for further investigation under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

“We are tracking down five more suspects based on images from the closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera footage and photos appearing in social media,” he told reporters at the state police contingent headquarters, today.

Asri said this should be a lesson to people not to take the law into their own hands to punish suspected offenders as it could be detrimental to themselves.

“Don’t make your own laws…apprehend and hand over the suspect to the police in such a case, and let the police take action.

“We know that when people are so angry, they want to beat up the culprit. It is okay if the person does not die. But what if he dies?” he said.

Meanwhile, Asri said the crime rate in Kedah showed a decline of 6.92% or 162 cases to 2,180 from January to April this year as opposed to the 2,342 cases over the same period in 2016.

“The number of violent crimes also declined by 17.85% (68 cases), from 381 cases over the first four months of this year compared to 313 in the corresponding period, last year.

“However, we should not be satisfied with the drop in the crime index because there are still complaints from the public on the quality of investigations,” he said.