JOHOR BAHRU, Aug 21 — Six individuals including a woman pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here today to a charge of kidnapping a Singaporean man, 32, for the purpose of obtaining a ransom of S$20,000 (RM63,000), earlier this month.

M. Balamurugan, 46, K. Saravanan, 40, P. Sri Devi, 41, G. Puganeswaran, 38, S. Gobinath, 38, and X. Adwin Nicholas, 41, made the plea after the charge was read out before Judge Nor Aziati Jaafar.

According to the charge, they were charged with the joint intent of kidnapping the victim for the purpose of obtaining the ransom in front of a church in Skudai, at about 2 pm, on Aug 8.

The charges were brought under Section 3 of the Kidnapping Act 1961 and read together with Section 34 of the Penal Code, which provides for a prison sentence of up to 40 years and whipping, if convicted.

Deputy Public Prosecutor R. Nevina did not offer bail on the grounds that the offence was serious and non-bailable.

However, lawyer K. Veeranesh, representing Sri Devi, applied for bail on the grounds that his client was unemployed and had children aged between one and 22, while the other accused also applied for bail on the grounds that they had family responsibilities.

The court then allowed all the accused to be bailed at RM50,000 each with two local sureties, in addition to setting conditions so that they would not harass the victim and prosecution witnesses, report to the nearest police station once a month and surrender their international passports to the court if they had any.

At the Magistrate’s Court, all six accused also pleaded not guilty before Magistrate A. Shaarmini to a charge of kidnapping a Singaporean woman, 33, with the intention of causing the victim to be secretly and wrongfully confined.

They were charged with committing the act at the Skudai Villa Apartment, Jalan Aman, Taman Skudai Baru between 2 pm on Aug 8 and 6.30 pm on Aug 11.

The charge was brought under Section 365 of the Penal Code and read together with Section 34 of the same code which provides for a maximum prison sentence of seven years and a fine, if convicted.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Eizlan Azhar did not offer bail but Veeranesh, who represented Sri Devi, applied for bail.

A. Shaarmini allowed all the accused to be granted bail of RM10,000 each with two sureties and the condition that they surrender their passports to the court.

Meanwhile, in a separate Sessions Court, Balamurugan, Saravanan and Gobinath pleaded not guilty before Judge Madihah Zainol to a charge of gang robbery against the Singaporean man.

They were charged with robbing the man of a gold necklace and a Rolex watch from a car in Johor Bahru Utara, at about 2 pm on Aug 8.

The charge was brought under Section 395 of the Penal Code which provides for a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and caning, if convicted. Nevina did not offer bail on the grounds that the offence was serious and could not be bailed.

However, the court allowed the three accused to be bailed at RM9,000 each with a local surety, in addition to conditions not to disturb the victim and prosecution witnesses, report to the nearest police station once a month and surrender their passports to the court if they have any.

In separate proceedings, Saravanan and Puganeswaran were fined RM3,000 after pleading guilty before Magistrate Nurzihan Abdul Rehman to a charge of causing injury to the Singaporean man by using a knife.

They are alleged to have committed the act at an apartment in Taman Skudai Baru, Skudai between 10 am and 1 pm on Aug 11.

The charge was brought under Section 324 of the Penal Code read together with Section 34 of the same code which provides for a jail sentence of up to 10 years or a fine or whipping, if convicted.

The court also ordered the accused to serve a six-month jail sentence if they fail to pay the fine.

All courts have set Sept 23 for mention of the case and appointment of lawyers. — Bernama