Mataram, Oct. 19 -- That night on Gili Trawangan, an island in Lombok usually alive with tourists, the mood turned somber. Police officer Brigadier Muhammad Nurhadi was found dead in the swimming pool of a villa where he had been staying.

It was no ordinary death. Investigators found signs of violence before he drowned.

Three names quickly surfaced as suspects - two of them fellow police officers: Commissioner I Made Yogi Purusa Utama and First Inspector Haris Chandra. Another suspect, Misri Puspita Sari, who was reportedly at the scene, now faces charges of obstruction of justice.

The case sent shockwaves through Indonesia - not only because both the victim and suspects belonged to the same institution, but because it struck at the ve...