Three charged in Balestier apartment raid where suspect was shot by police
SINGAPORE – Three people who were part of the group involved in the raid which resulted in a police officer firing his revolver at a suspect were charged on Friday (Nov 6).
Prakash Mathivanan, the suspect who was shot by an officer, was charged by a field magistrate as he is currently still warded in hospital.
The 36-year-old faces two charges, one of which involves voluntarily causing hurt to a staff sergeant of the Singapore Police Force with the intent to deter him from discharging his duty by punching and kicking him.
The second charge is for his alleged involvement in cheating Singtel into believing he was a customer who wanted to buy seven iPhone 11 Pro Max handsets valued at $14,273 on Oct 14.
The other two accused persons – Nikhil M. Durgude 22, and Malani Naidu Prabhakar Naidu, 33 – appeared before a district court on Friday and were charged.
Durgude was charged with voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public servant from carrying out his duty.
When asked by District Judge Terence Tay if he had anything to say, he recalled the incident to the court and denied punching and kicking the officer he is accused of causing hurt to. He will be remanded for one week and is scheduled to next appear in court on Nov 13.
Malani was charged for her suspected involvement in the cheating incident and will return to court on Nov 13.
All three of them have previous charges related to a wide range of offences including cheating. In 2017, Malani and Prakash were charged for engaging in a conspiracy to commit cheating.
On Thursday, the police said a man was shot in the abdomen during a struggle with police officers who raided a Balestier Road apartment that morning to investigate a series of scams.
The man was taken by paramedics to hospital and is in stable condition, the police said on Thursday.
The shooting incident happened in an apartment at City Suites condominium at Balestier Road at about 1am on Thursday. Three policemen in plain clothes, armed with revolvers and handcuffs, raided the apartment to arrest four people suspected of being involved in a series of cheating cases.
Police seized $20,000 of suspected criminal proceeds, drugs and drug-related paraphernalia. The Central Narcotics Bureau has also been roped in to investigate the alleged drug offences.
Source: Read Full Article
