The police personnel involved in the death of 22-year-old detainee Kugan Ananthan are expected to be charged next week.

According to a source, at least nine rank-and-file personnel from the Subang Jaya police district CID department are expected to be hauled to court.

However, it is learnt that the officers - aged between late 20s and early 50s - could be slapped with a lesser charge instead of murder (Section 302 of the Penal Code), which carries the death penalty.

One possibility is for them to be charged with either 'causing hurt' (Section 330) or 'causing grievous hurt' (Section 331) to extort confession.

If found guilty, the police officers could face a maximum jail term of seven years (for causing hurt) or 10 years (for causing grievous hurt).

The case was initially classified as sudden death but following the emergence of a video clip which depicted severe lacerations on the body of the deceased, attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail last Friday reclassified the case as murder.

Eleven police officers were subsequently reassigned to desk duty pending investigations.

AG sends back investigation papers

Yesterday, the AG sent back the investigation papers from the police and ordered them to conduct a more thorough probe.

According to a report in the New Straits Times, Abdul Gani was unsatisfied with the results of the investigation.

He had also demanded to see the results of the second post-mortem conducted at the University Malaya Medical Centre (UUMC) on Sunday.

The second post-mortem was done after the family had rejected the findings of the first examination which stated that Kugan had died of fluid accumulation in his lungs.

While the results of the second post-mortem have not been revealed, those close to the deceased's family have said that the findings are 'satisfactory', indicating that there could be elements which point in the direction of foul play.

Kugan was arrested on Jan 15 in connection with several car theft cases. He died at the Taipan police station five days later.

It was reported that the deceased had asked for a glass of water, and upon drinking, collapsed and died.

His remains were laid to rest at the Hindu cemetery in Puchong yesterday following a funeral procession which drew hundreds, including prominent politicians.