PUBLISHED : 1 Dec 2023 at 16:28
Praween Chankhlai, alias Kamnan Nok, has denied a murder charge filed against him in connection with the shooting that killed a highway police officer at a party held at his house in Nakhon Pathom province on Sept 6.
The prosecutors on Thursday filed a lawsuit with the Criminal Court, accusing Mr Praween with ordering his close aide Thananchai Manmark to kill Pol Maj Sivakorn Saibua, an inspector of Highway Police Sub-division 2, at the party.
In the incident, Thananchai walked to Sivakorn and opened fire at the officer in the presence of numerous police and civilian guests. Sivakorn sustained severe injuries and later to them at a hospital.
Following the shooting, Thananchai fled and subsequently killed in a gunfight with police in Kanchanaburi province the next day.
On Friday, Mr Praween, 35, was brought to the court from the Bangkok Remand Prison, where he had been detained pending investigation, to acknowledge the charge.
The former subdistrict head in Nakhon Pathom’s Muang district denied the charge and vowed to fight the case in court.
The court scheduled April 22, 2024, at 9am for the two sides to present themselves for an examination of evidence.
The house of Praween Chankhlai in Nakhon Pathom’s Muang district, where a police officer was shot during a party and later succumbed to his injuries at a hospital on Sept 6, 2023. (File photo)