The Home Affairs Ministry said last week that it was fine with disclosing the details of the settlement - till now confidential - if Mr Dickson Tan, 21, was fine with it as well.

But his family, afraid that relatives and friends might think they had scored a windfall and come knocking for a cut of the money, would rather keep the amount to themselves.

Read K.C Vijayan's full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.