This follows a ruling by judicial commissioner Norsharidah Awang to allow their habeas corpus applications following their detention under the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 (Poca).

The men are V Mahendran from the Pokok Sena (Kedah) detention centre,  P Daniel Arvind and G Balamurugan, who are being held at the Bentong (Pahang) detention centre.

On May 25 last year, the Poca board issued detention orders against the three.

The lawyer representing the three men said the judge ruled that the investigation officer and inquiry officer failed to conduct proper investigations against the applicants.

“The applicants had filed affidavits from the victims of the crimes that they were not at the crime scene,” T Harpal Singh told FMT.

He added that the judge also ruled that their remand orders under Poca were defective as the guidelines and legal principles laid out in a Federal Court ruling last year were not followed.

He said the applicants had seen a video released by the police, claiming that they were part of a gang fight but they chose to surrender themselves on March 4 last year to help in the investigation.

However, police continuously detained them under numerous remand orders under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) until April 5 when they were finally brought to the magistrates’ court in Shah Alam.

The three were then held under Poca for another round of investigations.

They filed a writ of habeas corpus on June 23, naming the board, the home ministry and the superintendents of the detention centres as respondents.