In a statement, the ministry said the police have begun investigations into the deaths of cow’s milk vendor A Ganapathy on April 18 and security guard S Sivabalan on May 20.

Both had been held at the station before being taken to hospital where they died.

“Yesterday, we received a memorandum from several Pakatan Harapan (PH) elected representatives on death in custody cases. We have already launched the investigation.

“In addition, the police will also improve their SOPs regulating the detention of suspects from time to time, so that such incidents will never happen again,” the ministry said.

Several PH MPs and assemblymen submitted a memorandum to the ministry yesterday, demanding an independent task force to investigate the deaths of Ganapathy and Sivabalan.

However, the entrance to the home ministry’s building was locked and the PH members were not allowed to enter the compound. They left their memorandum at the entrance before leaving.

The deaths of the two led to allegations of police abuse with much outrage from the public who called for urgent reforms of the police force.

In an interview with FMT yesterday, outgoing Gombak police chief Arifai Tarawe vowed to carry out a transparent investigation and stressed that no police officer would want to harm detainees.

Arifai said Ganapathy was brought to the magistrates’ court three times and the hospital four times, but did not once tell the judge or medical personnel that he was abused by the police.

Post-mortem reports confirmed that Ganapathy died of necrotising fasciitis in the right lower limb, complicated by sepsis, while Sivabalan died due to a heart attack.