Disappearance on the way to work
Kevin Morais was a senior Malaysian deputy public prosecutor. On September 4, 2015, he was last seen leaving his Menara Duta condominium in Kuala Lumpur in a Proton Perdana while travelling toward the Attorney-General's Chambers in Putrajaya. When he failed to arrive and could not be contacted, a missing-person investigation began.
Investigators later reconstructed movements connecting the disappearance to locations in Sentul and Subang Jaya. On September 16, Morais's body was recovered from a concrete-filled oil drum at Persiaran Subang Mewah in Subang Jaya.
Six defendants and a common-intention prosecution
Six men were eventually tried for murder: former army pathologist Colonel Dr R. Kunaseegaran, S. Ravi Chandran, S. Nimalan, R. Dinishwaran, A.K. Thinesh Kumar and M. Vishwanath. Prosecutors argued that the killing resulted from coordinated conduct carried out with a common intention.
On July 10, 2020, the Kuala Lumpur High Court convicted all six and imposed death sentences. The Court of Appeal upheld those convictions on March 14, 2024.
The Federal Court changed the legal picture
The final appeals reached Malaysia's Federal Court. On July 1, 2025, the court unanimously upheld the murder convictions of Kunaseegaran, Ravi Chandran and Nimalan. It set aside the murder convictions of Dinishwaran, Thinesh Kumar and Vishwanath and acquitted them after finding the evidence insufficient to sustain their convictions.
The sentencing outcomes also diverged. Kunaseegaran's death sentence remained after he withdrew his sentence appeal. Nimalan received 35 years' imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane, while Ravi Chandran received 40 years' imprisonment and was not ordered to be caned because of his age.
A 2026 review application
Kunaseegaran later sought a review of the Federal Court's earlier ruling under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court 1995. On July 31, 2026, a three-judge Federal Court panel unanimously dismissed the application.
The court rejected the argument that key appeal issues had not been considered and held that the legal threshold for reopening the apex court decision had not been met. That ruling left Kunaseegaran's conviction and death sentence in place.
Motive and what the courts actually found
During the litigation, prosecutors argued that Morais was killed because of Kunaseegaran's dissatisfaction with Morais's role in a case being prosecuted against him. The Federal Court's 2025 decision affirmed Kunaseegaran's conviction, along with those of Ravi Chandran and Nimalan.
This archive does not extend that finding to the three men who were acquitted. Their earlier High Court and Court of Appeal convictions were set aside by the Federal Court, and they must be treated as acquitted in the final legal record.
Timeline
September 4, 2015: Kevin Morais disappears while travelling from his Kuala Lumpur residence toward his office in Putrajaya.
September 16, 2015: his body is recovered from a concrete-filled drum in Subang Jaya.
July 10, 2020: the High Court convicts six defendants of murder and sentences them to death.
March 14, 2024: the Court of Appeal upholds all six convictions.
July 1, 2025: the Federal Court affirms the convictions of Kunaseegaran, Ravi Chandran and Nimalan, but acquits Dinishwaran, Thinesh Kumar and Vishwanath.
July 31, 2026: the Federal Court dismisses Kunaseegaran's review application, leaving his conviction and death sentence intact.
Current status
The Kevin Morais case is solved / adjudicated in the sense that Malaysia's apex court has issued final rulings on the six defendants who were tried. Three murder convictions stand; three defendants were acquitted. The 2026 review ruling further confirmed Kunaseegaran's final position.
The differing outcomes are central to an accurate account. Earlier convictions against the three acquitted men cannot be presented as if they survived the Federal Court's 2025 judgment.