Coroner Rasyihah Ghazali said, on the balance of probabilities, S Mahendran, G Thavaselvan and his brother-in-law J Vijayaratnam, a Sri Lankan national, died of gunshot wounds on their heads and chests.

“The shots were not fired in self-defence. There was abuse of power and (actions in the nature of) criminal elements by police in the death of the men,” she said this evening at the end of an inquest.

Police had claimed there was an exchange of fire between policemen and the trio at the edge of a jungle in Rawang and that two of the men had been armed with pistols.

Rasyihah, however, said she was unable to conclude as to what had happened to G Moganambal, the wife of Vijayaratnam, who was reported missing after the incident and has yet to be found.

On Sept 14, the three men, whom police said were suspected to have been involved in armed robbery, were killed in a shootout with the police at Km22 of Jalan Rawang heading towards Batu Arang, following a 7km high-speed car chase.

The coroner said today the men died between 5.20am and 5.30am on Sept 14 based on evidence collected in the inquest.

She said scientific evidence with regards to the position of the bodies and the weapons allegedly found on the two men did not tally with the oral testimonies of the policemen.

“The weapons described by the ballistic expert (Izzuwan Marzuki) and the investigating officer (P Visvanathan) were also in conflict,” she said.

She said police witnesses gave evidence that shots were fired at the men from an upright position but post-mortem reports stated that the bullets pierced their bodies at a downward angle.

Rasyihah said, in totality, there were many disputable questions of fact regarding witness statements.

The four had left Kepong at about 10pm on Sept 13 after dinner to visit friends and relatives. Moganambal’s sister, Vasanthi, had testified that Moganambal sent a location map via her mobile phone at about 1am (Sept 14) that indicated they were at a food outlet in Serdang.

Vasanthi stated in her evidence that shop owner Senizam Md Yusof admitted meeting the four that morning. However, Senizam denied in court that he had met them at his premises.

Lawyer M Visvanathan, who held a watching brief for the family of Thavaselvan and Vijayaratnam, said he had instructions to file a civil suit following today’s verdict.

“We have four months to do so as the three-year limitation period to file a legal action against the government will set in by September,” said Visvanathan who was assisted by V Sanjay Nathan.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sean Dudley assisted the coroner. A total of 20 people gave evidence.