Exploding phone unlikely cause of Cradle CEO’s death, case reclassified as murder

It was a tragic day in June when Cradle CEO Nazrin Hassan was killed when a fire broke out in his double-storey residence in Mutiara Damansara. Initially, in a statement, Cradle claimed that he was killed by blast injuries attributed to an exploding phone, a claim that the fire department has distanced themselves from.

Today, new information has surfaced that the Police are reclassifying the late Nazrin’s case: They’re now saying it could be murder.

This reclassification comes following the Fire and Rescue Department’s report on investigations into the incident and a post-mortem conducted on the victim, the New Straits Times reports. Selangor Criminal Investigation Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner Fadzil Ahmad said that they have opened investigations paper under Section 302 of the Penal code.

Malay Mail’s report cites a police source that informed them lab results that showed traces of petrol on the victim’s head, bedframe and mattress, as well as his handphone.

Initially, reports following a statement issued by Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd claimed that the victim died of a “complication of blast injuries attributable to an exploding hand phone that was being charged next to him”. However, five days after that statement was issued, Fire and Rescue Department director Azmi Osman said his investigators did not conclude or even suggest that it was an exploding smartphone that killed the victim.

At the time, Azmi was reported saying that it was still “premature to establish anything yet” as they were still waiting for the lab results to come in. In fact, Azmi also said that they had yet to involve the police in the investigations. He was quoted saying that they “will only seek police assistance if we [Fire Department] find anything suspicious”.

For now, no further information has been released, but it has been reported in the past that the victim likely died of smoke inhalation.

Cradle Fund is a venture capital firm under the Ministry of Finance that oversees development of tech entrepreneurs and the Malaysian startup ecosystem. It manages the Cradle Investment Programme (CIP), which provides early-stage funding for startups, and has provided early funding to companies like ride-hailing service Grab and iMoney.

[SOURCE, 2, 3]