20 Nov 2007

Fiji lawyer calls for probe into alleged assault of his client

6:52 am on 20 November 2007

Fiji lawyer, Tevita Fa, has called for a police investigation into the alleged assault of his client, Ballu Khan, who is a suspect in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate key figures.

Fiji TV reports that Mr Fa has written a letter to the police commissioner, Commodore Esala Teleni, giving a detailed account of what happened when Mr Khan was arrested on the afternoon of November the 3rd.

Tevita Fa says Mr Khan's vehicle was stopped at a checkpoint just outside Suva and he was taken to the Delainavesi police Post where a Fijian man swung a punch at his face and shoved him inside.

Mr Khan's workers in two other vehicles were also brought inside.

Tevita Fa says 12 men in civilian clothes then started punching and kicking Mr Khan and his men.

He says as the assault continued, uniformed police at the checkpoint outside continued their work as if nothing was happening inside.

Mr Fa says the assault continued at the Central Police Station until senior police officers who were there intervened to stop the ferocity of the assault.

He says the alleged assault was not the result of Ballu Khan resisting arrest and he has called for an investigation by police who were not involved.

Ballu Khan subsequently spent 13 days at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital and is currently admitted at the Suva Private Hospital.