Boon Tat Street stabbing victim a businessman who 'sold everything he owned' to revive dying business

Police investigators at the scene after a man was stabbed in an attack in Telok Ayer at around 1.20pm on July 10, 2017. PHOTO: THE NEW PAPER
Mr Spencer Tuppani helped bring shipping company TNS Ocean Lines from the brink of bankruptcy to having a turnover that exceeded $100 million. ST PHOTO: SEAN LIM

SINGAPORE - The man who was fatally stabbed on Monday (July 10) amid a busy lunchtime crowd was known as a businessman who revived a dying shipping business after the 2007/2008 economic crisis.

Mr Spencer Tuppani Shamlal Tuppani, 38, collapsed in a pool of blood outside A Poke Theory in Boon Tat Street, shocking bystanders. His alleged attacker, a 69-year-old man who identified himself as Mr Tuppani's father-in-law, has been arrested.

Mr Tuppani, a former managing partner of shipping company TNS Ocean Lines, had "sold practically everything he owned" to invest in the firm when it was on the brink of bankruptcy during the economic crisis, according to media reports.

He told August Man magazine in 2014 that he "even sold my watches for whatever I could get, just so that I could put it back into the company".

In 18 months, he had managed to steer the firm back to profitability. According to August Man, the firm had a turnover of $2 million in 2003 when Mr Tuppani joined but by 2014, its turnover had exceeded $100 million.

His achievements earned him a nomination as a finalist for the Outstanding Entrepreneur Award in the Singapore Indian Entrepreneur Awards, organised by Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in 2014.

In 2016, logistics firm GKE Corporation Limited acquired TNS Ocean Lines for $9 million.

The police have classified the case as murder.

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.