SINGAPORE, May 29 — Four alleged secret society members were charged in court yesterday for various gang-related offences, including flashing a gang hand sign.

Arulprakash Vellasamy, Jaiseelan Muthusamy, Kunasegaran Arumugam and Sanjeev Chandramogan, all Singaporeans, face between one and five charges each.

In a news release on Sunday, the police said the men were believed to be involved in a gathering of secret society members at a funeral wake and procession in Choa Chu Kang on June 4 last year.

They were also said to have chanted secret society-related slogans at Mandai Crematorium afterward.

Arulprakash, 45, allegedly displayed a gang hand sign associated with the Gi Leng Hor secret society on that day.

Jaiseelan, 44, was charged last month for fighting with one Murugan Arumugam on the afternoon of April 3 at the void deck of Block 476A, Upper Serangoon View, while being unlawfully armed with a knife. He is now accused of having been a member of Gi Leng Hor since 1990.

Court documents did not state if Murugan is related to Kunasegaran, 32, who faces two charges of being a Gi Leng Hor member since 2008.

Meanwhile, Sanjeev, 33, faces three charges of being a member of the 969 secret society — which, like Gi Leng Hor, is a member of the 24 group — since November 2001.

Jaiseelan, who was unrepresented, indicated his intention to plead guilty and will be back in court on June 12. He was offered S$15,000 bail.

Kunasegaran said he intends to claim trial and will appear in court again on June 12, once he engages a lawyer.

Meanwhile, Arulprakash and Sanjeev — represented by Rakesh Vasu and Amarick Gill respectively — will be back in court on June 25.

All three are out on S$5,000 (RM14,824.36) bail.

If convicted of being a member of an unlawful society, the four men could be jailed up to three years and/or fined up to S$5,000 on each charge. — TODAY