Malaysian Princess Linked to Murder

The murder of a Malaysian prince's junior wife has been turned into a royal scandal by the arrest of his senior wife.

Raja Nor Mahani, the senior wife of Raja Jaafar Raja Muda Musa, was remanded to police headquarters in the capital Kuala Lumpur on Thursday at a special court hearing.

The magistrate rejected the prosecution's application for a 14-day remand.

Five men were charged at about the same time with the murder of Hasleza Ishak, 26, the model and actress whom the prince married in January, but the authorities believe that Princess Nor Mahani, 60, may have been involved.

The prince, 62, is second in line to the Perak sultanate.

The five suspects, one of whom worked at the prince's palace, did not plead and were remanded in custody until next Friday, when their trial will begin.

They are liable to the death penalty, as is anyone guilty of aiding and abetting a murder.

Witnesses are said to have seen two men dragging Princess Hasleza out of her car and into a van near her home in the city of Ipoh on October 6. She was found five days later under a waterfall in Lenggong, with her hands and feet bound.

Ten days later the national police chief, Norian Mai, said the case had been solved.

He conceded that jealousy might have been a motive.

Princess Nor Mahani's lawyer, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, said she insisted that she had nothing to do with the murder and was "very upset with the whole thing".

The majority of Malaysia's 23 million people are Muslim and men are allowed to take as many as four wives. Few do, except the rich and upper-class.

Malaysia has royal families in nine of its 13 states who take it in turn to provide the federal monarch.