SINGAPORE - Within two days of a vicious attack in Serangoon Road, police on Friday (July 27) produced in court five of seven people allegedly involved in Wednesday's slashing incident in which a man was left badly wounded near Broadway Hotel.
Sharvin Raj Suraj, 17, Haresh Shanmuganathan, 22, Arjun Retnavelu, 23, Victor Alexander Arumugam, 24, and Dinesh Kumar Ruvy, 28, were each charged with one count of rioting with deadly weapons.
The five Singaporeans are accused of attacking Mr Dhines Selvarajah, 26, using weapons such as a baton, a chopper and a parang.
Earlier reports had claimed a samurai sword was also used in the attack but there was no mention of this in court documents.
On Thursday, police investigators escorted Arjun to Lower Peirce Reservoir, where he had allegedly claimed the sword was thrown into the water. But a four-hour search by commercial divers from Asia Dive Academy proved futile, with no sword found.
Court documents show that Arjun, Victor and Dinesh allegedly carried out the attack while they were under remission orders.
This means the trio had earlier been convicted in court for other crimes, and as part of the orders, they were not supposed to reoffend within a stipulated period of time.
If convicted of rioting, the trio could each face an enhanced sentence for breaching their remission orders. As part of the orders, Victor was not supposed to reoffend between March 17 this year and March 15 next year.
For Arjun, this period was from Dec 16 last year to March 22 next year, while for Dinesh, this was from May 11 this year to Oct 21 next year.
It emerged that Victor was hauled to court this April after he allegedly disturbed the public peace by fighting with one Visnu Suriamurthi at a bus stop near Lucky Plaza shopping centre earlier that month.
This charge was still pending when he allegedly took part in the Serangoon Road slashing. Court documents did not reveal details of the offences the other four men were involved in.
Mr Dhines, who was attacked at about 2.20pm on Wednesday, was left badly injured on a busy road.
But he was conscious when he was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where injuries were discovered on the back of his head, arms and legs.
His attackers fled in a rental car, prompting a police manhunt for the assailants.
Within 16 hours of the attack, police nabbed seven people in the vicinity of Corporation Road in Jurong and Block 26 Sin Ming Industrial Estate, including the five charged on Friday.
The five are now remanded at the Central Police Division and will be back in court on Aug 3.
