Police shift focus to Jakkrit's in-laws
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Police investigators probing the murder of Jakkrit Panichpatikam are shifting their focus to personal conflicts the Olympic sharpshooter reportedly had with his wife's relatives.
The line of inquiry is based on Jakkrit’s own words in a private letter he sent to a well-known newscaster a few days before he was gunned down last Saturday.
Channel 3 news anchor Sorrayuth Suthassanachinda made the letter public on Wednesday.
Police said they were still following other leads as well, including ties Jakkrit had with a number of people who had conflicts with uniformed figures, said senior investigator Pol Colonel Sukhun Phornmai. He said these men might have planted an M-16 assault rifle that was found when police searched Jakkrit’s house following the killing.
Police said a senior military officer had lobbied Jakkrit to abort a press conference the latter was planning in order to discuss the fact that his wife, Dr Nitiwadee Pucharoenyos, had opened a bank safe-deposit box without his written approval. This unnamed officer also convinced Jakkrit to scrap a civil lawsuit against the commercial bank involved, police said.
People ‘influenced by lies’
In the three-page letter to Sorrayuth, Jakkrit said that even his own mother had been turned against him as a result of lies spread about him and his alleged misbehaviour. He wrote that she later accepted his explanation that he had been framed by some old friends, who said he was using illegal drugs and becoming disillusioned.
According to Sorrayuth, Jakkrit said his mother finally understood and had agreed to secure his release after he was briefly detained for allegedly assaulting Nitiwadee.
In the letter, Jakkrit also accused another friend, Pol Lt-Colonel Kraiwit Saenthaweesuk, of trying to change the bail guarantor to another person, which could have put his request for temporary release in jeopardy.
He said Kraiwit wanted Jakkrit to undergo drug-abuse rehabilitation under his watch. Jakkrit wrote in his letter that he had already stopped using drugs by that time, and that Kraiwit’s aim was to steal all his and his wife’s money and assets.
Kraiwit, an officer with the Anti-Human Trafficking Division, reportedly offered an explanation of his relationship with Jakkrit yesterday to his superiors.
He confirmed his ties with Jakkrit and his wife but declined to give other details about Jakkrit’s death or any possible motive for his slaying to a reporter who interviewed him over the phone, saying the timing was not right.
Kraiwit, also known as Ratthawit, however explained to media later that what Jakkrit wrote stemmed from a misunderstanding. He said Jakkrit, after bail release, actually realised he misunderstood him and had his secretary to call him to say that Jakkrit wanted to see him to apologise, but Kraiwit replied that he didn't need to do that because Kraiwit wasn't angry with him and the case in which Jakkrit was accused of assault wife and mother, was still ongoing. Kraiwit said he had hoped that Jakkrit and wife would work things out between the two of them regarding family dispute. He said he had already explained to his supervisors and the murder case investigators.
