The man who died in the fatal accident that sparked the Dec 8 Little India riot "was not pushed or manhandled". Video footage shown at the public hearing into the incident on Wednesday morning revealed that the worker alighted voluntarily.

Indian national Sakthivel Kumaravelu, 33, was asked to leave the bus first by a foreign worker and then by Singapore School Transport Association timekeeper Wong Geck Woon.

The construction worker with scaffolding company Heng Hup Soon was asked to get off the bus after he pulled down his bermuda shorts on board. Senior State Counsel David Khoo said: "The clip captures the deceased boarding the bus and thereafter alighting voluntarily without incident, thereby dispelling rumours that he was pushed or thrown off."

A video shown at the start of the hearing showed Sakthivel then walking along Tekka Lane towards Race Course Road after alighting the bus and chasing after the bus as it departed. Seconds later, he is seen tripping and fall into the path of the front left wheel of the bus.