Lawyer M Manoharan said the family would be filing a civil suit against the university, government, police and the attorney-general, seeking damages for an alleged inquest held without the family’s knowledge.

He said Vinosiny’s father, R Sivakumar, received a letter from the Alor Setar sessions court dated Feb 1 regarding the cause of her death.

The letter, sighted by FMT, stated that Vinosiny died as a result of “an accident caused by electrocution”, adding that this conclusion was made after the case was referred to the coroner’s court.

Manoharan claimed that the family was not informed about the inquest into Vinosiny’s death.

“I have never heard of an inquest being carried out and concluded without proper investigation and without calling witnesses,” he said. “This is shocking and disturbing.”

He said the family had requested the inquest proceeding notes and other related documents, which he said they would study before filing the lawsuit.

In a parliamentary reply earlier today, higher education minister Khaled Nordin said the police were still investigating Vinosiny’s death. He said the ministry had not been updated on the investigation and could not comment further.

Manoharan accused Khaled of being “naive and ignorant” about the matter and asked why the minister stated that the police investigation was ongoing when it appeared that the inquest into Vinosiny’s death had been completed.

Vinosiny was found dead on May 21 last year. Her father had accused the university of negligence.

He filed a police report against UUM on May 27, calling for an investigation into whether the university had properly maintained its buildings.

UUM vice-chancellor Haim Hilman Abdullah said maintenance work at the campus in Kedah had been carried out according to procedure and schedule.