One dead, another injured after fight near Kitchener Road; case classified as murder, say police

SINGAPORE – A 25-year-old man died and another young man was injured after an early-morning brawl broke out near Kim San Leng Eating House in Verdun Road on Sept 22.

The police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force said they received calls for assistance at Verdun Road at 4.05am. Two men, aged 24 and 25, were taken unconscious to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where the 25-year-old subsequently died.

The case has been classified as murder and investigations are ongoing, the police added.

By 9am, a large police cordon stretching from Novotel Singapore hotel in Kitchener Road to the perimeter of Mustafa Centre and Sam Leong Road had been set up.

More than 10 police officers were gathered outside Kim San Leng Eating House at around 10am, and at least one police officer stood guard at each section of the larger cordoned area.

Despite the sweltering heat, there were crowds of people walking along Sam Leong Road, Verdun Road and Kitchener Road outside Novotel and City Square Mall. 

Most of the shops and eateries along the three roads, which were part of the police cordon, were open, except for Kim San Leng Eating House at 16 Verdun Road, which was shuttered and cordoned off entirely.

Evidence cards were placed by two pairs of slippers left strewn at Kim San Leng Eating House and the back alley of nearby Sam Leong Street Chicken Rice restaurant.

An Indian restaurant in Sam Leong Road near where the slippers were found was also found closed.

But two workers, who declined to talk to The Straits Times, were inside the restaurant looking out the door as the police conducted their investigations. 

An Indian couple who had planned to eat at that restaurant and declined to be named said they did not know why it was closed and what was happening with the police investigations in Sam Leong Road. 

Bloodstains were found splattered on the pavement outside Novotel Singapore.