Police invite porntip to join probe

Bangkok’s Wang Thong Lang Police Station has sent a letter to invite Justice Ministry inspector-general Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan to aid and advise the police with their investigation into the murder of businessman Akeyuth Anchanbutr.
Metropolitan Police deputy chief Anuchai Lekbumrung said yesterday, however, that a new autopsy would not be performed because the Police Institute of Forensic Medicine had carried it out correctly.
Police said they had yet to find Akeyuth’s gold necklace and a security camera hard-disk missing from his home, which Akeyuth’s driver Santiparp Penduang claimed to have dumped into a river. Anuchai said, however, that police had other evidence to prosecute the suspects. He said police were trying to get CCTV footage to strengthen their case report and gather the suspects’ background information to support the murder motive.
Regarding contradicting testimony from the suspects, Anuchai said the confusion was only about who actually killed Akeyuth, while the other details were not in conflict. He said the investigation focused on robbery, murder and a personal grudge, although other motives hadn’t been ruled out.
Anuchai also urged people who saw Akeyuth raising his hands above his head and calling for help at 3am on June 8 at the Lam Makham Intersection Flyover in Bangkok’s Lat Krabang area to come forward. A suspect has claimed Akeyuth called to passing vehicles for help, but none stopped.
A source in Akeyuth’s close circle yesterday said a piece of confidential information about the government might have led to Akeyuth’s murder.
The source said Santiparp and accomplice Sutthipong Pimpisarn detained Akeyuth at his house, a risky move as Akeyuth knew the place well and could have escaped. The two suspects didn’t take any valuables from the house. However they might have been ordered to detain Akeyuth in order to search for a confidential document Akeyuth kept.
Suspicion has risen as police seemed disinterested in knowing why the duo had taken Akeyuth to the house and that a security camera system’s server was missing. The source said Akeyuth often obtained confidential information about people in power, and the suspicion was that such information might have got Akeyuth killed.