MALACCA: Police believe a hired gunman was responsible for shooting dead a Penangite soon after he left the court house here on Monday.

State Deputy CID chief Superintendent P. R. Gunarajan said police are working on the theory that it was a hired killer as the victim was trailed and shot point blank.

He said the victim, S. Saravanan, 39, from Butterworth had nine previous serious crime cases and had served a jail term in 2000.

“We are now probing the motive for shooting,” he told reporters here, Tuesday.

Supt Gunarajan said police had detained a 28-year-old friend of the victim who is from Bidor, Perak, to facilitate investigations.

Saravanan, who travelled from Butterworth to stand trial for a robbery case here, was gunned down moments after leaving the courthouse.

The victim had stopped his Honda Accord at a traffic junction near Jalan Tun Abdul Razak here after attending his trial at the Sessions Court here when two men on a motorcycle, wearing full-face helmets, approached his vehicle.

The pillion rider fired several shots at him through the driver's window and windscreen before fleeing.

Meanwhile, Saravanan's wife T. Vinsvari, 39, was at Malacca Hospital mortuary to claim her husband's body.

She said her husband had initially planned to take a bus down to Malacca but changed his mind and left at 9am on Sunday with his friend to attend the court proceeding.

“The last time I spoke to him was at 2pm on Sunday after he reached Kuala Lumpur to attend prayers before continuing to the court house here,” she added.

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