KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 (Bernama) -- The Coroner's Court inquest into the death of taxi driver Baharudin Ahmad during an illegal assembly on July 9 last year, was told today that he had participated in the assembly on purpose.

Investigating Officer Sergeant Major Razali Mahmud, 50, said the taxi driver was found to have taken the Light Rail Transit (LRT) to Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) to participate in the Bersih 2.0 assembly.

"Through my investigation, it was found that Baharuddin left for KLCC with the aim of participating in the demonstration... this was conveyed to me by his son, Mohd Nazrul, when I was taking his statement at the hospital.

"However, Baharuddin did not drive his taxi to KLCC as he had taken the LRT instead," he said during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Ishrakh Saad.

Razali also said there was no tear gas or water cannon fired by the police at KLCC or the surrounding area during the assembly.

Earlier, the Dang Wangi police chief ACP Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman, 52, also told the court he ordered members of the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) to monitor the situation in KLCC after receiving information that some of the demonstrators were in the area.

"My instruction to the FRU was to monitor the situation in KLCC, but some say that there was an instruction to disperse the demonstrators by firing tear gas coming from me, that's absolutely not true," he said.

When suggested by lawyer Ahmad Jufliz Faiza, who is representing Baharuddin's family, that the man had died in Dang Wangi, Zulkarnain said he did not know about the death on the day of the incident.

Instead, he said he only knew that a man was found dead in the Avenue K building when informed by Kuala Lumpur deputy police chief Datuk Amar Singh Ishar Singh.

The inquest before Coroner Zulkpli Abdullah continues tomorrow.