'Politically motivated' attack on PKR man's family?
A late night arson attack on the home of Selangor state exco member Dr Xavier Jayakumar’s daughter in Klang had left the PKR politician shaken.
As his daughter, Sangeetha, 30, accompanied him to a meeting at the Pakatan Rakyat operations room just a mile and a half away from her home, her husband, toddler and maid were forced to cower indoors as their cars were set ablaze.
“We had just reached our bilik gerakan after a ceramah when I received a call notifying me about the incident. My daughter and I rushed home and the fire had been put out by the fire brigade,” Dr Xavier told us.
When the attack took place at 11pm, Sangeetha’s husband, Dr Arnil Srimanne, 36, her one-year-old toddler and their maid were at home. They were left unharmed.
Neighbours rushed out of their homes following a commotion at Sangeetha’s house when they saw a group of men – one armed with a parang in a silver Kia Sephia alighting from the vehicle and climbing over the fence into the compound. He was then seen throwing cans of kerosene into her compound, setting both the cars parked in the compound on fire.
By the time Dr Xavier got home, firemen had already put out the fire. The police arrived at 11.30pm.
Sangeetha is an exco member of Keadilan’s Youth Movement.
Dr Xavier told us that the attack on his daughter’s family was ‘politically motivated’ and that it could have been orchestrated by perpetrators deemed to ruin his political career.
“These perpetrators are out to send a message of sorts to my family. There’s no logic behind the incident and why we are being targeted. My family and I aren’t involved in any scams and neither do we owe people money.”
“Whoever did this must be aged between 18 and 25. I was told that they were not wearing any face masks when they committed the crime,” he added.
Dr Xavier is defending his state seat in a five-cornered fight with MIC Youth chief T Mohan, P Uthayakumar of the Human Rights Party and two Independents, KS Kottappan Suppiah and Hanafiah Husin.
His campaign trails have seen him tackling socio-economic issues which stem from poverty and to curb gangsterism among Indian youths in his constituency.
“We must give back the respect to them (the Indian youths) they deserve to get jobs too. The right leader must be able to tackle these issues facing these young people,” said
Dr Xavier told his supporters ‘to stay calm and avoid retaliation to continue our struggle to bring about peace in my constituency’.
According to Dr Xavier, the police have already held four men to help with investigations.
