Cop charged after he allegedly forged police documents in cases he investigated
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SINGAPORE – A police officer has been charged over the alleged forgery of police statements and documents linked to cases he had investigated between 2021 and 2023.
S Vikneshvaran Subramaniam, 35, was handed nine forgery charges on May 21, and has been suspended from duty.
The alleged forgeries came to light in January 2023 after his cases were reviewed when he was placed under enhanced supervision owing to his work performance, the police said in a statement.
His alleged offences were linked to seven cases. Five of them were criminal cases which were then ongoing and two were concluded ones that did not result in prosecution, a police spokesperson said.
Vikneshvaran’s rank and other details about the cases were not revealed.
The police spokesperson added: “Remedial actions were subsequently taken, which included properly recording the necessary statements by newly assigned investigation officers.”
Subsequently, the Attorney-General’s Chambers determined that there was no miscarriage of justice after reassessing the cases.
Other than the alleged offences linked to the seven cases, no other wrongdoings were uncovered, the police added.
When Vikneshvaran was under enhanced supervision, the police detected irregularities in cases he handled pertaining to case exhibits as well as document management.
After discovering the irregularities, the police immediately conducted a thorough review of all the cases he had investigated.
It later emerged that Vikneshvaran had allegedly forged nine documents – seven police statements and two acknowledgement slips – in seven cases.
According to court documents, the first of the cases occurred on July 6, 2021, when he allegedly forged a woman’s signature on a police slip acknowledging the return of her ez-link card.
He allegedly forged another woman’s signature on April 12, 2022, acknowledging the return of her National Registration Identity Card.
Vikneshvaran is accused of creating a false statement linked to a third person in July that year.
He is also accused of committing similar offences linked to multiple other people between November 2022 and February 2023.
The court heard on May 21 that he intends to plead guilty at a later date.
Vikneshvaran is represented by lawyer Gino Hardial Singh, and the case will be mentioned again in court on June 18.
For each count of forgery, an offender can be jailed for up to four years and fined.
Shaffiq Alkhatib is The Straits Times’ court correspondent, covering mainly criminal cases heard at the State Courts.
