T

he family of David Hartanto, an Indonesian student accused of stabbing his professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technology University (NTU) before committing suicide, will take further legal steps to investigate his death.

"We are planning to hire a Singaporean lawyer to take this case to court," David's father, Hartono Widjaja, said in Jakarta on Monday, following the family's recent seven-day visit to Singapore to gather more information on the incident.

On March 3, David was found dead, after he plunged from the third floor of a building on the NTU campus.

NTU Director Su Guaning told the Singaporean media that David allegedly stabbed professor Chan Kap Luk before slitting his wrists and jumping to his death.

David's family has rejected the story, saying that the statement was based on the professor's words only and that the director gave the statement before police completed their investigation.

Blogger Iwan Piliang, who accompanied the family on their trip as the head of the case's verification team, said that the family might hire lawyer Shashi Nathan to take the case to Singapore's Coroners Court, which processes cases involving unnatural deaths before they are brought to the criminal court.

"We are hoping to gain an open verdict in the Coroner Courts," Iwan said.

He explained that an open verdict will open the gates for a further investigation of the case.

"We are 99 percent sure that David was murdered," David's older brother William said.

According to William, there is a number of suspicious facts regarding his brother's death. "David's autopsy report revealed that there were 36 wounds to his body. Fourteen of them were knife-inflicted," he said.

Last week, the Singaporean police sent David's autopsy report to his family. However, it was not sent through the Indonesian Embassy but through NTU, thus negating its legality.

"But we still have the autopsy photos," Iwan said, adding that the photos, which were made available on Facebook, contributed to suspicion surrounding the case.

During their trip to Singapore, the family also tried to meet Su Guaning. The director was not available and offered his senior associate provost in his place, but the family declined.

"We also tried to meet professor Chan Kap at his residence, but he too refused to meet us," William said.

The family also paid a visit to Singapore daily The Strait Times, in hopes of changing the public's view on the incident, Iwan said.

David's death received wide attention domestically and internationally after two other members of a NTU research team were found dead.

Five days after David's death, 24-year-old Chinese national Zhou Zheng, an NTU project officer, was found hanging in the balcony of his apartment.

Then, a 29-year-old student was struck and killed by a vehicle near the campus.