UniSZA lecturer found dead at rented house in Jerteh
Two of his colleagues went to check on him when he failed to report for work since yesterday.
JERTIH - A lecturer from the Faculty of Bioresources and Food Industry (FBIM) at Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin (UniSZA) Besut Campus was found dead at his rented house in Kampung Gelam Emas here this morning.
The body of Tajul Afif Abdullah, 49, was discovered at 9.38am after two of his colleagues went to check on him when he failed to report for work since yesterday.
Besut district police chief Supt Mohd Rozaime Ab Rahim said initial observations suggested the lecturer had died more than 24 hours before his body was found.
"The two lecturers, who were his friends, detected a foul smell coming from outside the house and contacted the police before personnel from the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM) arrived to force open the door, which was locked from the inside,” he said in a statement today.
He said the victim’s body was found in the bathroom of the main bedroom and was later sent to the Besut Hospital Forensic Unit for a post-mortem examination.
Rozaime added that police investigations and the post-mortem results found no elements of foul play, noting that the deceased had a history of heart disease.
Meanwhile, a close friend of the deceased, Dr Muhammad Hailmi Sajeli, 48, said he was saddened that his instincts that something might have happened to Tajul Afif had turned out to be true.
After noticing that Tajul Afif did not show up for work yesterday, Hailmi said he invited another colleague, Dr Zarizal Suhaili, the Deputy Dean of Student Affairs at FBIM, to check on him at his rented house.
"When we arrived, we found the doors and windows closed and locked from the inside and we could smell a foul odour.
"We became more worried when we saw the deceased’s motorcycle behind the house and noticed water from the tap flowing into the drain.
"When we opened the window, the smell became stronger, so we immediately called the police,” he told reporters at the Besut Hospital Forensic Unit compound today.
Hailmi said the last time Tajul Afif reported for work was last Thursday and that he had not responded to messages in their WhatsApp group after working hours on the same day.
He also shared that Tajul Afif, who was pursuing his doctorate at UniSZA, had previously expressed his intention to remain unmarried so that he could focus on caring for his mother, who is suffering from a stroke. - BERNAMA
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