Police search for clues to solve murder

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Police officers have broken into the office of Trimedya Panjaitan, a member of the House of Representatives from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), to search for evidence that could assist them solve the murder of his secretary.

Headed by Tanah Abang police subprecinct chief Comr. Subandriya, the three officers on Friday examined various documents and letters in the room of Nung Yuningsih, 35, alias Nungky, who was murdered on Monday in her rented apartment in a Bendungan Hilir in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.

Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani said that police needed to search the office to find clues on who had murdered Nungky.

"We need to find records of the last telephone calls she made, either from her room telephone or cellular phone. We also hope that we can find letters or notes that could lead us to suspects and reveal the motive behind her death," he said.

Nungky was found dead by her friends at 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

An autopsy conducted at the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital found that she had been beaten and strangled to death by several people at some time on Monday.

The director of the hospital's forensic laboratory, Abdul Mun'im Idris, said that the victim had been given drugs and was raped before being murdered.

"Until we arrest the murderer, we can't be sure of motives. However, we have ruled out robbery as a possible motive as we found no belongings missing," Firman said.

He said that police were still investigating "whether it was political, or just a sexual assault that led to the seemingly premeditated murder".

Firman said that police would question Trimedya soon after they finished questioning other witnesses.

Trimedya, who immediately confirmed that the victim was his secretary right after she was found dead, said that he had no contact with her since Monday.

Meanwhile, Subandriya said that his officers had questioned nine witnesses, including Nungky's boyfriend Taufik, Danu Diningrat, the owner of the apartment, and Nungky's friend Dian.

He said that police had interrogated Taufik but later released him because he was in Cirebon when the incident took place.

"Taufik has a strong alibi so we can't press charges against him. At this moment, we have not declared anybody a suspect as we are still expanding our investigation," he said.