His wife cried & cried after his release

His wife cried & cried after his release

SINGAPORE- Mr Alagappan Kathaiya, 36, was one of the seven accused who were granted a discharge amounting to acquittal by the court yesterday.

The other six are Mr Selvarasu Dhanapal, 25, Mr Ammasi Venkatesan, 27, Mr Sellamuthu Elangovan, 45, Mr Rajendran Ranjan, 22, Mr Rengasamy Muruganantham, 24 and Mr Sathan Selvan, 39.

Mr Alagappan's supervisor from Oxley Construction Company, who picked him up from the Subordinate Court last evening, said: "His wife kept crying and crying when I told her he had been released."

Mr Alagappan, whose wife and three sons aged 7, 9 and 11, are in Tamil Nadu in India, said he was in Little India to meet his friends when the riot broke out on Dec 8.

Speaking in Tamil, with his supervisor acting as interpreter, he said: "I was watching what was happening. I was standing near the bus (that was vandalised). But glass shards cut my hand and grazed my head."

BUNDLED & BANDAGED

Police officers bundled him into an ambulance, which took him to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, he said.

"They bandaged my head. After that, I walked back to Mustafa Centre to have my dinner," Mr Alagappan said.

But a surprise awaited him. "The police arrested me. They thought I was involved in the riot," he said.

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The construction worker has been here for about five years and sends back half of his monthly salary of about $800 to his family.

Two more Indian nationals, Samiyappan Sellathurai, 41, and Sarangan Kumaran, 35, were charged with rioting yesterday. With the seven discharged, the total number accused of rioting stands at 28.

Twenty-three, including the two new accused, were remanded for another week at the Central Police Division for further investigation. Their cases will be up for mention again on Dec 23.

The remaining five cases will be mentioned in court in the next two days.

Some of the accused claimed through the court interpreter that they were assaulted by police officers during interrogation.

District Judge Lim Tse Haw said: "This is not the arena for them to state their case but the court takes their allegations seriously. Whatever they have to say, say it to the IO (investigating officer).

"The court has directed the prosecution to look into the alleged assault. If they so wish, they can make a police report."

Some accused also said they were innocent and some said they were not present during the riot. Some referred to the charges as "fabrications".

The judge said: "If there's nothing to implicate them, I trust the prosecution to do the necessary - withdraw the charges against them."

Deputy Public Prosecutor John Lu said arrangements had been made for representatives from the Indian High Commission to have access to the accused.

Volunteer lawyer Amarick Gill told the court he wished to inform the accused that they had met the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS) criteria for legal representation.

In a statement yesterday, the Law Society said its CLAS has collated a list of volunteer lawyers to provide legal representation for the accused.


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