Insp-Gen Sambo (back row, second from left), his wife Putri (seated, centre) and Nopryansyah (back row, far right). - The Straits Times/Asia News Network
JAKARTA (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Indonesian police are open to exhuming the remains of a bodyguard who was allegedly murdered for having an affair with the wife of a police general, if the victim's family requests a second autopsy.
The police would first present the result of the first autopsy, as per normal procedure, and if the family is not satisfied, a second autopsy involving an independent third party could be carried out, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo told reporters on Tuesday night (July 19).
"As ordered by the police chief, we would do the investigation as transparently as possible, and it will be based on science," Dedi said, stressing that all autopsies will be audited and will be based on international standards.
Indonesian police have been in the media spotlight in the past days - with their credibility on the line - after a police statement on the July 8 death of Nopryansyah Yosua Hutabarat, a bodyguard of Inspector-General Ferdy Sambo's family, was found to be plagued with irregularities.
Police claimed Nopryansyah, 27, was killed during a one-on-one gunfight with another bodyguard known only as E.
Nopryansyah's family lawyer Kamarudin Simanjuntak, however, said the police's chronology of events was incoherent, questioning why E had sustained no injury in a close-range gunfight where Nopryansyah, a police sniper, had fired first.
He pointed out that Nopryansyah fired seven shots and none of them hit E. The latter fired five shots, four of which hit Nopryansyah and there were seven bullet wounds on him.
Kamarudin also questioned why the police acknowledged only the bullet wounds on Nopryansyah, while photos of his body also showed bruises and cuts, indicating that he was violently attacked by more than two people.
His right shoulders and jaw were dislocated and teeth were messed up, Kamarudin told reporters on Tuesday after filing a police report.
The family is demanding a second autopsy.
The fact that the police disclosed the incident only three days later was also deemed irregular by Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD, as police commonly announce significant incidents within a day.
He also questioned why the police had not allowed the family to see the body earlier.
Police had said that on July 8, Nopryansyah drove the 49-year-old two-star police general, who was head of the national police internal affairs division, and his wife Putri Candrawathi from Magelang in Central Java province to the general's official residence in Jakarta.
Later in the afternoon, Nopryansyah allegedly walked into a bedroom on the first floor of the residence where Putri, who is in her 40s, was resting and sexually harassed her.
Insp-Gen Sambo was not in the house at that point.
Putri is alleged to have shouted and E rushed downstairs, where a close-range gunfight ensued, with Nopryansyah firing the first shot.
Insp-Gen Sambo was suspended on Monday (July 18), amid mounting public pressure that he be removed from his post.
Nopryansyah's daily task was to be the chauffeur for the general's wife, who local media said no longer lived with her husband.
Kompas daily, citing neighbour Jata Pardede, reported on Sunday that in the past year, Insp-Gen Sambo mostly lived in a privately owned house about 500m away from his official residence.
When asked about the alleged affair last Friday, the police said there was no evidence pointing to that claim.
They added, however, that the matter was "a bit sensitive" and that details could not be disclosed because of ongoing investigation.
