Malaysian criminal’s move to fake his murder in India exposes him

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian criminal Michael Soosai’s decision to fake his murder in southern India eventually backfired on him, and exposed his nefarious activities, including forgery, intimidation, harassment and murder.

The businessman, who was 43 during his “purported death”, was facing a 20-year-old jail sentence for charges of cheque forgery, amounting to more than RM1 million. He was released on RM 186,000 bail.

According to the New Strait Times, Soosai has also been accused of running a bogus distance-learning programme in the mid-1990s, attracting at least 50 civil servants who signed up as mature students but ended up holding worthless MBAs (master’s in business administration) and other degrees. One of the victims was a director of a government department.

Following his “purported death”, he was eventually discharged and acquitted of 13 charges of forgery by the Petaling Jaya Sessions Court after his death certificate was produced in court.

Investigations on Soosai were reopened following the murder of Malaysian N. Subramaniam in south India in December 2004. Soosai was allegedly spotted in India then.

Investigations revealed that Soosai’s daughter had eloped with Subramaniam’s son in 2003 and this led to a bitter feud between the families.

Subramaniam and his wife, Pallipillamah Selliah, were lured to south India in a scam, in which they were told they had won an all-expenses-paid holiday. Subramaniam was murdered as soon as he arrived in India while his wife escaped.

Soon after news of Soosai being alive was published in the New Sunday Times, a special task force was set up under then deputy Criminal Investigation Department director Mokhtar Hassan.

After more than a month of investigations, three men were charged with stage-managing Soosai’s death.

Police also sought Interpol’s help in capturing the fugitive. While in hiding, Soosai was believed to have set up a website which claimed that several senior officers had worked hand-in-glove with members of the underworld to cover up his crimes.

He even dared then deputy inspector-general of police Musa Hassan (now an IGP), through an email, to catch him. (ANI)