The 21-year-old navy cadet officer was allegedly bound and beaten for days because of a dispute over a laptop, The Star reported a source as saying.

According to the source, Zulfarhan was tortured for two days with a belt, rubber hose, iron and hanger by his university mates on May 20 and 21.

However, a week later on May 27, two of his batch mates drove the victim to a clinic in Bangi for treatment.

“They brought him to the clinic again on May 31,” the source said, adding that they did not return to their campus but stayed at an apartment in Serdang.

When Zulfarhan’s condition worsened at around 8pm on Thursday, he was rushed to Hospital Serdang but succumbed to his injuries about two hours later.

Police have confirmed that the case is a murder investigation and 36 students have been arrested and remanded for a week until June 8.

Bernama reported that Zulfarhan had earlier called his mother to say he was unable to return home to celebrate Ramadan.

Hawa Osman said Zulfarhan, who was the eldest of four siblings, told her to take care of herself.

“At that time, he sounded unwell but said he was fine and told me to take care of myself,” she said when met at the Kebun Teh Muslim Cemetery here last night.

Hawa, 54, who is an administration assistant at Sekolah Menengah Aminudin Baki in Johor Bahru, said her son had shown no signs that anything was amiss before the fateful day.

According to her, she last met her son about three weeks ago at a relative’s wedding.

Zulfarhan’s remains were laid to rest at the Kebun Teh Muslim cemetery here last night.

His burial was carried out at about 9.30pm after a hearse from the Malaysian Armed Forces arrived with the body at the cemetery at 9.15pm.

The ceremony was attended by more than 100 people, including Zulfarhan’s family members and friends.