KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 ― Four men were charged with the murder of Wan Hassan Wan Embong who was formerly with the IT division of the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi), at the magistrates court here today.

Ravindran Manimurasu, 23; Kogilan Panniselvam, 23; Sugu Thangarajoo, 27; and Vickeswaran Selvach Santhiran, 22, were charged with killing Wan Hassan during a home invasion at the victim’s residence at Jalan Mambu, Bukit Bandaraya, between 3.35am and 4am on November 29.

All four men acknowledged their charges but did not enter a plea before Magistrate Wong Chai Sia.

The charges were proffered under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder and read together with Section 34 of the same Act, which provides for the mandatory death sentence upon conviction.

Wong then set March 9 for the next case mention.

All four men were then transferred to the Sessions Court in front of Judge Izralizam Sanusi, also here, where they were charged with gang robbery under Sections 395 and 397 of the Penal Code.

The alleged offence was committed at a house along Jalan Tiara Titiwangsa, Taman Tiara Titiwangsa between the hours 4.15am and 5:30am on November 29.

Izralizam also set March 9 for the next case mention.

All four men were unrepresented when the charges were read to them in the respective courts today.

According to the police, the group were involved in two separate robberies that night.

In the first robbery, Wan Hassan, 71, was slashed with a parang when he tried to put up a fight against the robbers who invaded his double-storey detached house through a kitchen window.

According to police, the robbers who were armed with a parang and a steel hammer committed their second house robbery where they tied up a 34-year-old engineer and his family with telephone cables and gagged their mouths with pieces of cloth.