The police vehicle carrying the 40-year-old man arrived at the court complex at 9.20am, but he was seen playing dumb and refused to get out of the vehicle even after being persuaded by several policemen for 10 minutes.

This prompted one of the policemen to pull him out of the vehicle and five other policemen had to pick him up and carry him to the courtroom for the remand proceedings.

Magistrate Mohd Dinie Syazwan Ab Shukor then issued a seven-day remand order against the man, starting today to facilitate further investigation into the baby’s murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

Yesterday, police found the body of the baby smeared with salt all over and kept in a sack underneath the kitchen table of a house in Kampung Sungai Dua, Melawi, and arrested the man for investigation.

Meanwhile, Kelantan police chief Shafien Mamat said a post-mortem revealed that the baby had suffered head injuries that might have been the result of a blow or fall.

He said the post-mortem was done at the Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital and completed at about 4am today.

Shafien said based on the way the baby was murdered, the police did not rule out the possibility that the father was involved in deviant teachings, especially with the man said to have heard “voices” and may have been hallucinating before committing the offence.

“Until now, the man had not spoken a word for us to record his statement,” he said.

The baby’s 32-year-old mother, who also had bruises on her body and was traumatised by the incident, was also arrested but sent to the Bachok health centre for treatment.