Rajes Perumal, a 37-year-old right defender for Petaling Jaya City (PJ City) FC, was killed in a motorcycle accident Friday night.
The football player was believed to have lost control while travelling on a motorcycle from Jalan Sri Batu Caves to Batu Muda at around 10.30 p.m. before crashing onto the left shoulder of the road and hitting a tree there, according to acting district police chief for Gombak Supt. Noor Ariffin Mohamad Nasir.
He said Rajes suffered serious head injuries and was confirmed dead at the scene.
“His body was taken to Selayang Hospital Forensics Department for post-mortem. The case is being investigated under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987,” he said in a statement today.
Noor Ariffin requested members of the public who witnessed the collision or who may have information about it to call the Gombak District Police Headquarters’ operations room at 03-6126 2222 or the traffic investigation officer, Insp. Mohd Shaifuddin Mohd Nor, at 017-664 5812.
The body of Rajes, a father of three children, is still at Selayang Hospital, according to PJ City Coach P. Maniam, and will be returned to his home at 5 p.m. today.
“Tomorrow, the funeral ceremony will be held around 1 pm, the location is not yet known,” he told Bernama.
Maniam described the passing of Rajes as a huge loss to PJ City because he was one of the more experienced players and an important person in the squad.
“He was so disciplined and very committed as a player, and was also a role model for the team. Sometimes I did discuss with him about the PJ City squad lineup and how to improve the team’s performance,” he said.
Goalkeeper Kalamullah Al-Hafiz, Rajes’ teammate, remarked that Rajes was a person who did not talk much but encouraged his teammates a lot.
Rajes played for PKNS FC from 2011 to 2013 before moving on to play for Selangor (2014), Kedah (2015), and then returning to PKNS FC until joining PJ City in 2018. (2016-2017).
