Tashny Sukumaran, a senior analyst at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, alleged on Twitter that the cops accused the refugee of filing a false police report after he had been robbed, and had also tried to get him to withdraw the report.

She also claimed that the man was hauled to the police station for “further questioning” while his girlfriend suffered sexual remarks from certain personnel.

Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng, who is on a parliamentary select committee for security, responded to the tweets, saying: “Investigate this allegation or I’ll summon your officers to Parliament.”

FMT has sought comment from Brickfields police.

In her Twitter posts, Tashny said she asked the police whether it was true they had threatened to put him in the lock-up if he didn’t withdraw the report, as he had told her. “They said ‘No, just giving warning’,” she tweeted.

She said the police also immediately denied showing the man pictures of prison uniforms and asking if he wanted to “wear purple or orange”, or that they told him he would be assaulted in prison, or of asking for money.

Tashny said the police refused to name the policemen involved when she said she would complain to the integrity department. Eventually, an inspector tried to defuse the situation, saying there was a misunderstanding.

“We said we will come back another day with a lawyer since your colleagues don’t know how to behave,” she tweeted.