A police officer accused of lese majeste for falsely claiming about the monarchy for personal benefits together with a famous fortune-teller committed suicide in prison.
The Department of Corrections on Saturday, 24 October 2015, announced that Pol Maj Prakrom W., an inspector in the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD), hanged himself and died while he was detained at the remand facility in the 11th Army Division in Nakhon Pathom Province, west of Bangkok.
The announcement stated that the Department of Corrections received a report from the remand facility that the suspect at about 10 pm on Friday, 23 October 2015, hanged himself with clothes that were given to him by prison officers.
The report added that the detained police officer was in a critical condition when he was found by prison officers who tried to help him and later sent him to the hospital. He was later pronounced dead by a physician in hospital of the remand facility.
The Department of Corrections said that since he died under custody, an investigation and postmortem examination will be carried out.
On Wednesday, 21 October 2015, the Military Court of Bangkok granted to the police custody permission to detain Suriyan Sutjritpolwongse, aka Mo Yong, a well-known fortune-teller, Jirawong W., his close associate, and Pol Maj Prakrom W.
The three are accused by the Thai military under Article 112 of the Criminal Code, the lese majeste law, for falsely claiming making false claims about Thai monarchy for personal benefit.
According to Matichon Online, Pol Lt Gen Sriwara Rangsipramanakul , the Assistant Police Chief now heading a 19-member investigative team on lese majeste cases which was established especially for this case, said that the three pleaded guilty.
Sriwara mentioned that during interrogation the three suspects also alleged the involvement of eight police officers in the Central Investigation Bureau. The identities of the eight are being kept confidential. They were transferred from their posts in the police force earlier this week.
The officer told the media that more arrest warrants will be issued for suspects in the case.
The head of the lese majeste investigation team added that the three had been committing crimes for more than two months before their arrests and that they would be charged for more than one count each under the lèse majesté law, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment for each offense.
Suriyan is an advisor to the publicity committee of the upcoming ‘Bike for Dad’ event, a cycling rally to honour HM the King, which will take place around the King’s birthday on 5 December.