About 500 people marched behind a gold-coloured hearse carrying the body of Kugan Ananthan, who died in police custody last Tuesday.

MCPXThe procession from Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) in Petaling Jaya - where the second post-mortem was conducted on Sunday - left at 2.05pm.

The crowd marched to a Hindu cemetery some 20 kilometres away in Puchong and briefly walked pass the police station in Subang Jaya where Kugan died.

The long march, under the hot sun and later in the rain, took 2 hours and 30 minutes to reach the destination.

The funeral procession has been organised to protest police brutality, the latest of which resulted in the death of 22-year-old Kugan.

Earlier this morning, police closed all roads leading to UMMC ahead of the funeral procession.

The police have arrested five people - three for wearing a T-shirt of the banned movement Hindraf, and the other two for trying to breach a police barricade to enter the UMMC mortuary.

Among those arrested was Hindraf coordinator RS Thanendran.

Marchers arrived at police station

Kugan, who was detained on Jan 15 at the Taipan police station in Subang Jaya on suspicion of being involved in the theft of luxury cars in Sungai Chua, Kajang, died while being questioned five days later.

Selangor police chief Khalid Abu Bakar yesterday issued a warning against turning Kugan's funeral into a political rally.

He also told those attending the funeral not to participate in any illegal gathering or carry banners and posters.

Despite the stern warning, hundreds of people gathered at the UMMC before the procession started under heavy police presence.

Kapar member of parliament S Manikavasagam had earlier told Malaysiakini that the procession would stop at the Taipan police station where Hindu rites will be performed for Kugan before proceeding to the cemetery.

Meanwhile a crowd of 100, along with a team of 20 riot police, had gathered outside the police station. while a police helicopter hovered above, to wait for the procession.

The procession - which had grown to about 500 people - arrived at the police station at 3.20pm - about 80 minutes after the march kicked off.

They stopped for about two minutes to shout slogans against police brutality and then continued on to the cemetery in Puchong where Kugan will be cremated.

However, they did not conduct any rites as previously announced.

The marchers arrived at the Puchong cemetery at 4.30pm.