TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Depok Police Chief Sr. Comr. Ahmad Subarkah has promised to launch an investigation into the death of Nurdin Priatna bin Jaja Sujana, a 27-year old who died while under the custody of Sukmajaya District Police.

If a police officer is known to be implicated in Nurdin's death, Subarkah promised to punish the offender. "We will impose heavy penalties on any officer who is involved in his death," said Subarkah on Monday, April 27, 2015.

According to reports, said Subarkah, Nurdin died of his injuries after having tumbled during a reconstruction of an alleged theft of Rp 56 million by police investigators, who thought Nurdin was being evasive and refused to cooperate.

Nurdin finally relented after exhaustive interrogation and pointed to a house in Cilodong, where Nurdin allegedly kept his loot. Upon arrival at the location, Nurdin tried to escape despite being handcuffed.

"He then suffered injuries after having tumbled, after which we immediately took him to the hospital for treatments - but he did not survived his injuries," said Subarkah.

That said, relatives of Nurdin found the official cause of his death to be suspicious - especially considering that there are many evidence of physical abuses on Nurdin's body. "[The police] had given us their explanation, but they are still waiting for the official autopsy results from the hospital to make sure that no foul play was involved," said Subarkah.

Prior to his death, Nurdin was reported for an alleged theft of Rp 56 million from a gas station where he worked on April 21, 2015. He was immediately labelled as a suspect and placed under police custody.

IMAM HAMDI