Oki's ex-girlfriend denies ignoring police summons
Oki's ex-girlfriend denies ignoring police summons
JAKARTA (JP): The ex-girlfriend of the main suspect in the
case of the Los Angeles triple murder has denied ignoring summons
to attend police headquarters for questioning.
Ruyalti, widely known as Ipunk, insisted that, in the time
since was questioned by police about three weeks ago, she had
never received a single formal notice from the police.
"I'm ready (to go to city police headquarters for
questioning) if I am summoned, either formally or informally,"
she was quoted by the newspaper Suara Pembaruan as saying.
The daily reported yesterday that Ipunk had claimed she knew
nothing about a plastic bag which was allegedly used by her ex-
boyfriend Harnoko Dewantono, alias Oki, to bundle up the dead
body of Suresh Mirchandani, a business associate of Indian
origins who was one of the three murder victims.
"Honestly, I don't know about that plastic bag," said Ipunk,
who was still living with the suspect in the United States in
1991, the year in which Suresh is believed to have been murdered.
Earlier, police officers, including City Police spokesman Lt.
Col. Bambang Haryoko and secretary to the head of the City Crime
Investigation Directorate, Lt. Col. MD Primanto, had said that
Ipunk had ignored a police summons.
Ipunk's lawyer, Denny Kailimang, said: "It's impossible that
Ipunk would have ignored a summons from the police since to have
done so would have been to disobey the rules."
Deny said detectives from the murder and kidnapping unit of
the City Crime Investigation Directorate had told him that they
had never issued a formal letter to Ipunk.
Bambang could not be reached for further comment yesterday.
Besides the question of the plastic bag, a statement from
Ipunk is needed by both Jakarta and Los Angeles detectives to
shed light on Oki's activities in Los Angeles.
"We know that Ipunk knows many things about Oki and his
activities there," deputy to National Police Chief for
Operational Affairs Maj. Gen. Koesparmono Irsan told reporters
yesterday.
Oki, 30, is regarded by the Los Angeles police as the prime
suspect in the killing of his brother Tri Harto Darmawan, known
as Eri, Gina Sutan Aswar, a young Indonesian woman, and Suresh.
A warrant of arrest was issued by the Los Angeles police after
they identified the decomposed bodies of the three victims late
last year.
Oki was apprehended in Central Jakarta on Jan. 7 in connection
with suspected passport forgery. He was later questioned for his
alleged role in the murders, which are believed to have been
committed between 1991 and 1993.
Two days after the arrest, Jakarta police detectives asked
Ipunk to provide information. During the interview that followed,
Ipunk reportedly replied to most of the questions with the words
"I don't know."
Koesparmono said that Indonesia and the United States had not
yet decided on the venue of Oki's trial.
"It's fifty-fifty," he said.
Two Los Angles police detectives are expected to arrive here
early next week to collect further information and become
acquainted with the findings already made by Jakarta police.
When asked about the possibility that there was a connection
between the murder and a drugs syndicate, Koesparmono said: "Our
investigation does not extend to any such question." (bsr)