Orchard Road fatal brawl: Man allegedly hid knife used by purported accomplice

SINGAPORE – A man said to be linked to a

fatal Orchard Road brawl

 is accused of taking a bread knife from an alleged accomplice before hiding it in a locker in a nightspot at Concorde Hotel and Shopping Mall.

AR Ridhwan Abdul Rahim, 21, is accused of hiding the knife at Club Rumours at around 6am on Aug 20, despite having reason to believe that Muhammad Shahrulnizam Osman, 30, had purportedly used it to attack another person.

Ridhwan was charged in a district court on Monday with one count of causing evidence to disappear with the intention of screening Shahrulnizam from legal punishment.

Ridhwan’s case has been adjourned to Sept 27.

Shahrulnizam was

charged in August

with one count of voluntarily causing hurt to another man with a dangerous weapon. He is said to have used a bread knife with a 30cm blade to slash Visnu Suriamurthi, injuring him in the chest.

Visnu, 27, was purportedly part of a group that caused hurt to Mr Mohammad Isrrat Mohd Ismail, who was taken to hospital where he died.

Visnu and other alleged members of the group are accused of offences including rioting while armed with a deadly weapon.

One of them, Asvain Pachan Pillai Sukumaran, 29, is accused of killing Mr Isrrat and is

facing a murder charge.

To date,

more than 10 men have been charged

over their alleged involvement in the brawl. The cases are pending.

If convicted of murder, Asvain would face the death penalty.

Shahrulnizam could be jailed for up to seven years, fined or caned, or receive any combination of such punishments if he is convicted of voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon.

Those convicted of rioting with a deadly weapon could be jailed for up to 10 years and caned.