KAJANG: Three friends were charged in the magistrate's court here today with the murder of a man whose burned body was found near the Semenyih dam.
Workshop worker Zulkarnain Md Ariffin, 44, and two electrical company employees, Muhamad Iqbal Zainal, 30, and Syed Fikri Barakbah Syed Mohd Bakri, 28, nodded when the charge was read by the interpreter before magistrate Nurul Hafzan Ab Aziz.
No plea was recorded as murder cases fall under the jurisdiction of the High Court.
According to the charge sheet, the three men were accused of murdering Mohamed Afiq Hamdan, 29, at a house on Jalan Hulu Langat, Batu 16 Dusun Tua, near here, between 3am and 5am on June 22.
They were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same code, which carries the death penalty or imprisonment for up to 30 to 40 years and no less than 12 strokes of the cane.
Deputy public prosecutor Nurul Husna Amran prosecuted, while all three accused were not represented.
The court set Aug 23 for mention.
Previously, it was reported that a man was murdered over a debt of RM7,000 and his burnt body was dumped in some bushes near the Semenyih Dam.
Kajang police chief Assistant Commissioner Naazron Abdul Yusof said police received a report regarding a burned body near the dam on June 23.
He said police arrested four suspects in Batu 14 Hulu Langat to assist in the investigation.
The four tested positive for methamphetamine and two of them had more than 20 prior criminal records.