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Published on September 23, 2007

The first case is the shooting of Boonlue Rungrueng, a former driver of Dr Phaisal Hengsawas - owner of Bio Clinic - on March 19. Boonlue was a key witness in a civil lawsuit in which the Consumers Protection Board was demanding Bt12.3 million from the surgeon on behalf of Raweewan.

According to police, Boonlue, 42, filed a civil lawsuit against Phaisal after Boonlue served an 18-month prison term in China for transporting a chemical deemed illegal there for Phaisal. Boonlue wanted to continue driving for Phaisal, who instead proposed to pay him Bt10,000 for two years. Boonlue had to do nothing in return.

Boonlue, a former Phya Thai Hospital medical records clerk, later agreed to testify against Phaisal in a civil lawsuit after falling out with Phaisal over his demand for the driver's job. He later drove a taxi after rejecting Phaisal's offer and he was shot dead near his home on the night of March 19, before his scheduled testimony in April.

The second killing was of Charnwit Charnrattanachai, a former Bio Clinic client, on November 18 last year. The salesperson of business suits also lodged a civil lawsuit against Phaisal, demanding a huge pay-out for a bad infection to the area under his eyes after undergoing cosmetic surgery performed by Phaisal.

Charnwit, 48, was found dead, wrapped in a bedspread and abandoned in Saraburi's Nong Khae district in the early morning on the day of his death. He was stabbed in the chest and left eyebrow and had been strangled with electrical cable. Charnwit was travelling north from Phuket to coordinate his lawsuit against Phaisal and went missing along the way the night before.

Two police teams are jointly working to solve all three cases - one team from the investigation subdivision under Metropolitan Police Division 4 and the other team from the Crime Suppression Division.

A key witness having reported conflicts with a team of men who might have organised the three killings has been under protection ordered by the Department of Special Investigation, after he filed reports with responsible government agencies on questionable medical practices and other irregularities he said he detected at Bio Clinic.

Police are still working on a theory that Raweewan may have had conflicts with her rivals in the construction business in her home province of Ratchaburi. Police are compiling more information on whether a group seen near her local home were the same people seen near Boonlue's home a few days before he was shot dead.

The investigators named two men most suspected of having coordinated all three killings - Por and Sor - according to news reports. Both men disappeared after the murder of Raweewan and have been traced by plain-clothes police detectives.

Phaisal has not yet been questioned by police after Raweewan's murder. Nevertheless, police say they are now making good progress. Initial action will be taken by next week after more evidence was compiled, said deputy police chief Phatcharawat Wongsuwan.

After going public about her wrangling with Phaisal over her disfigured face resulting from his medical procedure, which she alleged was performed with the unauthorised and unregistered use of liquid silicone, Raweewan faced four criminal lawsuits and one civil lawsuit all lodged by Phaisal demanding Bt129 million.

Raweewan earlier escaped death in a failed assassination attempt on November 8 last year when a bullet hit the

door of her car while it stopped to park near The Mall Bang Kapi.

Anan Paengnoy

 The Nation