The policeman who had swapped lunch time duties with the slain constable, Leung Shing-yan in 2001 yesterday denied that he had known Tsui Po-ko, the key person of the Tsim Sha Tsui shoot-out, six years ago.

Thirty-five-year-old Chan Chi-kwan, testified on the second day of the inquest that he had no personal relationship with Tsui.

It was rumored that Chan had known Tsui before the killing of Leung on March 14, 2001, when Leung was investigating a bogus noise complaint in Shek Wai Kok Estate.

Chan, however, said he was transferred to Lantau north division in March 2003, and did not know Tsui until June, 2005.

"We had not cooperated with each other at work and we had not had any social life together," he said.

Police investigation found that the gun used to kill Tsang and severely injure constable Sin Kar-keung in Tsim Sha Tsui last March, and the security guard in a bank robbery in 2001, belonged to Leung. Tsui was killed by Tsang in the Tsim Sha Tsui shoot-out .

Chan testified that his original lunch time schedule from 11 am to 12 pm was swapped with Leung (12:30 pm to 1:30 pm) on March 14, 2001, because of the change of duties, which required Leung to make a writing statement for a common assault case in Lei Muk Shue (LMS).

Chan was asked by the crime reporting center officer at 12:05 pm to handle a noise complaint in Room 552, Block A, Shek To House of Shek Wai Kok Estate.

Chan was waiting for a vehicle going back to the police station for lunch, and Leung had volunteered to the task.

The two policemen then met in an area near the crime scene as Leung was getting off the police vehicle. Chan had thanked Leung for handling the complaint.

Chan came back to the police station at 12:30 pm. He had heard from the police radio that an officer collapsed and there was gunfire in Shek To House.

"I immediately understood that the officer must be Leung," he said.

The officer then rushed back to the scene.

He also testified that the complainant's address was fake, as room 552 of that house should be in block B, but he was not aware of it at that time.

When asked by Arthur Luk, the coroner, whether he considered himself a lucky person after he escaped death, Chan replied, "Do I really have to answer this question?"

Leung Wing-yee, an officer of the crime reporting center at that time, said Leung had called the center at 12:20 pm, saying the flat in question was quiet and demanding the complainant phone number for verification.

But she said the officer receiving the complaint call, Lai Wing-fai, had wrongly input the complainant's phone number as 8214 5629 from the correct 9214 5629 to the police computer.

"I had heard that an officer collapsed a few minutes after finishing the conversation with Leung,"she said.

Coroner Michael Chan said he needed to summon Lai for the third time to testify again to verify whether Leung's claim was true.

Chan said Lai had failed to reveal all the details of the evidence.

Tai Wai-leung, a sergeant at LMS police station at that time, said it was a normal practice for constables to swap timetable.

Coroner Chan, Luk, police representatives and the jury had visited the shoot-out scene yesterday.

Pathologists, medical officers and residents of the Shek Wai Kok Estate would be summoned in the coming days.

The inquest, expected to last for 37 days, will examine the death of Leung, Tsui, another constable Tsang Kwok-hang and a Pakistani security guard Khan Zafar Iqbal.