SINGAPORE - An officer from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) has been convicted of three counts of voluntarily causing hurt to extort a confession from a man, who was then suspected to be a drug offender, in January 2017.

On Friday (March 18), District Judge Salina Ishak found Vengedesh Raj Nainar Nagarajan, now 35, guilty of the offences following a trial.

The judge said the accused was "evasive" when he gave his testimony in court earlier.

The Singaporean, who has been suspended since October 2019, had committed the offences against Sivabalan Kanniappan after the latter was found with drugs on him at Woodlands Checkpoint.

The Malaysian, then 34, has since been convicted of drug offences and given 15 years' jail with 13 strokes of the cane.

In their submissions, Deputy Public Prosecutors Han Ming Kuang and Timothy Ong said that before Sivabalan was assaulted, he was stopped for an inspection when he entered Singapore through the checkpoint at around 3.40pm on Jan 2, 2017.

A blue bundle, suspected to contain controlled drugs, was found in a raincoat bag at the rear box of his motorcycle.

He was handed over to the CNB Woodlands team and an officer recorded a statement from him.

The prosecutors said: "In this statement, Sivabalan denied knowledge of the blue bundle. He claimed he had lent his motorcycle to his roommate 'Sivan'. 

"Apart from this, he had no explanation why the blue bundle was in his raincoat bag."

Sivabalan later provided a urine sample and Vengedesh, then a corporal with the bureau, arrived at the Woodlands Checkpoint CNB office at around 6am after he was activated to attend to the case.

Prior to his arrival, Vengedesh was briefed that an Indian man - Sivabalan - had been arrested and that Vengedesh was needed to communicate with him in Tamil.

The two men later met and the court heard that Sivabalan noticed that Vengedesh reeked of alcohol. The pair later went to a toilet and Vengedesh started talking to Sivabalan.

The DPPs told the court that the initial interactions with Vengedesh were friendly and casual as the officer tried to build rapport with Sivabalan. 

But this changed when the conversation turned to the blue bundle and Sivabalan continued with his denials.

The prosecutors added: "The accused then slapped the left side of Sivabalan's head, punched his left arm, slapped his face with the back of his hand and kicked the left side of his knee.

"As the assaults took place, Sivabalan cried and told the accused to stop. He did not fight back and eventually admitted bringing the bundle into Singapore and that it had been given to him by 'Nesh'."

The court heard that an escorting officer saw the assault but did not stop it. The men, including Sivabalan, then left the toilet at 6.14am.

As Sivabalan was giving his second statement, Vengedesh asked him what the blue bundle contained. Sivabalan was taken back to the toilet when he denied knowledge of its contents.

The prosecutors said: "Once they were in the toilet, the accused punched Sivabalan's left bicep, punched his left elbow and kicked his left leg between the waist and mid-thigh more than once. He did not scream for help as he thought no help would be forthcoming, and he also feared that if he cried out, the assault would be even more severe.

"During the assaults, the accused kept asking Sivabalan to admit that he knew what the bundle contained. During this time, Sivabalan was also crying in pain."

The assault stopped when another officer intervened and they left the toilet at 8.43am.
The prosecutors said Vengedesh assaulted Sivabalan for the third time after a second bundle of drugs fell out of the raincoat bag.

Vengedesh's offences came to light after doctors examined Sivabalan, who had complained of pain to body parts including his left lower ribs. He then revealed that he had been assaulted.

The DPPs said that, according to CNB protocols, the interview should have been conducted "without any threat, inducement or promise or oppression exercised on the suspect".

They added: "The interviewer should also not use any physical violence on the suspect... Instead, the suspect should be treated humanely."

Vengedesh is represented by lawyers Peter Keith Fernando and Kavita Pandey.

The defence's case was that Vengedesh did not assault Sivabalan during the three occasions in the toilet.

The DPPs said: "While he admitted being loud and firm to Sivabalan, he denied any form of physical assault against him."

Vengedesh's mitigation and sentencing are expected to take place on April 29.

Following his conviction on Friday, he still has three other pending charges for offences including harassment.

For each count of voluntarily causing hurt to extort a confession, an offender can be jailed for up to seven years and fined or caned.