Police to question suspects over boyband a1 tragedy

JAKARTA (JP): West Jakarta Police detectives are scheduled to question on Wednesday two of five suspects in a tragic incident involving British boyband a1.

Four girls were crushed to death when fans struggled to meet the band during a promotional event at Taman Anggrek mall in West Jakarta last month.

"Two suspects are from Sony Music Indonesia, the company that brought the boyband to Indonesia. Their names cannot be published because they are going to be questioned on Wednesday," West Jakarta Chief of Detectives Adj. Comr. Syahar Diantono said on Tuesday.

Syahar also said that chief director of Sony Music Indonesia, Susanto Hartono, had been questioned on Tuesday as a witness in the case.

"Let us finish this investigation first ... we need to complete the dossiers for this case as soon as possible and hand them over to state prosecutors. This case needs to be seen as an example so that such carelessness is not repeated," Syahar said.

He identified the three other suspects as Agung Wibowo, Anita Trianto and Soni Subagyo, all of whom are employees at Tarra Megastore, which hosted the promotional event on March 18.

Syahar said these three suspects were not being detained by police. He said Soni and Agung were not detained after their lawyer, Amir Syamsuddin, guaranteed his clients would not flee. Anita was not arrested because she is "in her 70s ... and to old to be held in police custody".

"All five suspects are being investigated under Article 359 of the Criminal Code on culpable negligence leading to death," Syahar said. This article carries a maximum punishment of five years in jail.

"The suspects failed to obtain a police permit to hold the fan gathering. They failed to anticipate that a venue as small as the Tarra Megastore could not possibly accommodated the huge crowd that came for the in-store autograph signing session.

"Had they applied for a police permit, police officers would have been deployed at the mall to secure the event. It was just sheer carelessness," he said.

The four victims were Nurdian Wali, Indri Ayuningtyas Dharmawan, 17, and sisters Rani Sintami, 13, and Eka Wanti, 20. (ylt)