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Published on September 16, 2007

Maj-General Warawuth Suksawat, chief of the CSD's Region 1, said deputy commander of Metropolitan Police Maj-General Krissada Phankhongcheun had called for a meeting between the investigating teams of the two divisions on Monday.

Apassanan Thitichotechaipreecha, 53, was shot to death on Thursday night in front of her house in Bang Kapi district. Before being shot, Apassanan, who changed her name from Raweewan Setarat, had a conflict with a surgeon, Dr Kaweewat, formerly known as Phaisal Hengsawas, who she said disfigured her in a medical treatment three years ago.

Apassanan and Kaweewat filed numerous civil and criminal lawsuits against each other.

Though police believe the motive of the murder is probably related to the conflict with the surgeon, they do not rule out business conflicts over construction deals in Apassanan's home province of Ratchaburi. Apassanan ran a construction-materials business.

Warawuth said Metropolitan Police would look seriously into the business-conflict theory while CSD would focus on the conflict with the cosmetic surgeon. Police investigative teams were sent yesterday to Ratchaburi and some places in Bangkok.

"She had asked for protection from police, but before we were able to provide it she was killed," said Warawuth, adding that Apassanan had her life threatened several times.

According to Warawuth, police now have a clue about a possible link between the murder of Apassanan and the conflict with the surgeon. Police found that the circumstances of the murder of a prime witness in her case against the surgeon were similar to Apassanan's murder.

Boonlue Rungreueng, Kaweewat's former driver, was shot to death on March 19. He was once arrested and jailed in China for possessing an illicit drug whose medical use was banned. After being released from jail, he returned to Thailand and was dismissed from his job as a driver by Kaweewat. He then became a witness for Apassanan in a case she filed against Kaweewat. He was summoned to appear before the court in April, but he was shot in March.

As with Apassanan, he was gunned down two weeks before the scheduled court appearance. The court had scheduled September 27 as the day the verdict in Apassanan's case would be read.

Colonel Sanhajit Bamrungsawad, chief of the Metropolitan Police's investigative team, said however he had not yet decided to summon Kaweewat for questioning as he had to wait for strong evidence that linked him to the case.