SINGAPORE — Was it possible that American researcher Shane Todd had died elsewhere and his body was carried back into his apartment since no blood stains were found? And was it possible that the furniture was moved back to its original position to give an impression that there was no struggle in the apartment?

These were among the “hypothetical” questions posed yesterday by Dr Todd’s family lawyers to a senior investigation officer — prompting a robust response from Senior State Counsel Tai Wei Shyong who asked if the family was, among other things, alleging that the police investigations were improper.

At the second day of the inquiry yesterday, police officers and forensic experts took the stand, as it emerged that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has backed evidence that the Singapore police had recovered and examined the same hard disk drive in the possession of Dr Todd’s parents.

An earlier Financial Times article — based on interviews with his parents — had suggested that the drive was accessed by a mystery person three days after Dr Todd’s death on June 24 last year. As it turned out, it was the investigation officer, Sergeant Khaldun Sarif, who had accessed it for suspicious information and returned it to the Todd family after he found none.

While a report by a computer analyst engaged by Dr Todd’s parents found that a file was deleted from the hard disk drive, Assistant Superintendent Kristen Soong Yen Peng from the Criminal Investigation Department’s Technology Crime Forensic Branch also testified yesterday that she agreed with the FBI that such temporary files are created automatically when Microsoft office products are opened and automatically deleted when the main file is closed.

Dr Todd, 31, was found hanged in his apartment near Chinatown. His parents, who are attending the inquiry, believe that he was murdered over research he had done while working for the Institute of Microelectronics in Singapore.

During the inquiry yesterday, his parents also raised doubts about the authenticity of a suicide note in their son’s laptop and questioned the handwriting of two Post-It notes that the police said were written by the deceased.

At the end of the session, Mr Tai also stood up to question the lawyers’ repeated line of questioning, which he felt bordered on allegations of the police tampering with material evidence and placed the “integrity” of the justice system “at stake”.

However, State Coroner Chay Yuen Fatt accepted the explanation of lawyers Peter Ong and Amarjit Singh that they were merely raising hypothetical scenarios on behalf of the Todd family.

Senior Station Inspector (SSI) Rayme Darman Koh — the most senior investigation officer involved in the case — testified that he did not believe it was possible for Dr Todd to have been killed elsewhere and have his body taken back to the apartment.

While he conceded that material evidence could have been altered when the police’s first responders carried Dr Todd’s body and placed it on the floor, shifting a chair in the process, he stressed that the officers were acting in accordance with police procedures.

In response to media queries after the session, the police confirmed that “in the event that a person is found hanging, the police’s protocol is to cut the rope above the knot/noose and bring down the body”. It added that the “main consideration ... is to save the subject’s life, even if such chances are assessed to be remote”.

“This also ensures that paramedics can perform their duties when they arrive at the scene. The cut is made above the knot/noose to preserve the material evidence for the forensic expert to establish the cause of death. The said protocol is common among many established police forces,” the police added.

Mr Yap Bei Sing, a Consultant Forensic Scientist and handwriting expert from the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), testified that he found it “probable” — given that the similarities outweigh the differences — that the two Post-It notes in Dr Todd’s apartment bore his handwriting, when compared to specimens of handwriting in his work diary. The words “Please do not enter. Please call the police.” and “password: Uzc0s0b5” were written on the Post-It notes.

Mr Kua Guo Wei, a DNA analyst from the HSA, said he found the DNA of four other persons in all on the towel and the strap that Dr Todd’s body was hung from. However, the DNA levels were too low to determine who they came from, he said, noting that the towel and strap were not brand new.