The High Court here was told that lawyer Ranjit Singh Dhillon would not attend the two-day proceedings scheduled for today and tomorrow as a result of an illness.

The court was also informed that two key witnesses in the case, T Previin and D Karunagaran, were Covid-19 close contacts and were currently under home quarantine.

Deputy public prosecutor Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim said his office had been informed of these developments earlier.

Judicial commissioner Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid then vacated the two days and said the trial will continue as scheduled earlier on April 11 for five days.

Lawyer Sukhindarpal Singh held watching brief for the Bar Council, while the other two defence counsel, Yagoo Subramaniam and Maanveer Singh Dhillon, were not present.

Today’s adjournment is the fourth postponement in the trial that began on May 4 last year.

The first was in June last year after Previin went missing and later claimed that he went into hiding due to harassment.

Then on Aug 6, the court took half a day off after a defence lawyer claimed there were many Covid-19 positive cases in his firm.

On Oct 5 the same year, the court vacated another week of trial dates as the Penang Prison was vaccinating inmates. The accused are currently placed there.

J Ragesuthan, 22, S Gokulan, 22, S Gopinaath, 30, and two others have been charged with Nhaveen’s murder.

The other two unnamed persons were juveniles when the offence took place. Gopinaath was charged last December, midway through the trial.

They are accused of murdering Nhaveen at the Jalan Bunga Raya park on June 9, 2017, between 11pm and midnight.

The four are also accused of committing grievous assault against Previin near the Karpal Singh Learning Centre, Jalan Kaki Bukit, Bukit Gelugor, between 11pm and midnight, under Section 326 of the Penal Code.

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