Arifai said he would leave it to new Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Acryl Sani Abdullah to comment on the calls for him to resign or be suspended.

Yesterday, lawyer K Ganesh, who is representing the family of A Ganapathy, urged Acryl Sani to sack or suspend Arifai.

He also questioned Arifai’s remarks that an inquest would be held while investigations were ongoing.

Ganapathy, 40, a cow’s milk trader, had been detained by police since Feb 24 and died in hospital on April 18 after a month of treatment. His family alleged that he had been beaten while in custody and had suffered severe injuries to his legs, arms and shoulders.

Arifai had said last Friday there was no evidence that Ganapathy was beaten while in police custody.

Today, he said he believed his remarks on an inquest had been misunderstood.

“I did not say we will have an inquest now. I said if investigations are complete, and there is still no conclusion on what is claimed, then I will refer the case to the deputy public prosecutor for an inquest to be held.

“Right now, investigations are ongoing as we have not received the post-mortem report,” he said, adding that his previous statement should be read in its entirety.