SINGAPORE, Jan 18 — A Singaporean man who had questioned his arrest and extradition to Malaysia was associated with a gang involved in a shootout with the Malaysian police, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) said in a statement yesterday.
The SPF said given that there had been “widespread, erroneous assumptions” on what happened, it deemed it necessary in the public interest to make clarifications.
The man, Mohan Rajangam, was handed over to the Malaysian police as he was linked to a murder on March 2, 2015, in Georgetown, Penang.
But he said that on the day of the murder, he was having a function at a nightclub he was working at. Despite having no records of entering Penang for eight months, he was extradited to Malaysia for further investigation, he said.
In an interview with news portal The Online Citizen, Mohan alleged that he was held under the custody of the Singapore police without legal representation for 48 hours since his arrest on March 21, 2015, without his statement recorded or taken down by an investigating officer.
On January 10 this year, the 50-year-old Singaporean, through his lawyer M Ravi, filed a petition for criminal revision in court, calling on the court to examine the records of Mr Mohan’s transfer to Malaysia.
In detailing the background of the case, the SPF said that from January 2015, the Malaysian police had shared information concerning members of a Malaysian organised crime gang. It was established that Mohan was in regular contact with these Malaysian gang members.
The SPF said it was informed on March 21, 2015 that the Malaysian police had engaged in a shootout with members of the gang. It resulted in the death of two gang members, one of whom was known to be in contact with Mohan.
Following this, the Malaysian police conducted an operation and arrested three gang members in a residential unit in Johor Baru that was rented by Mohan.
The Malaysian police subsequently sought the SPF’s assistance to trace and arrest Mohan urgently as he was believed to be involved in the gang’s drug activities and harbouring members of this gang.
“SPF decided to arrest Mohan on suspicion of his involvement in drug and gang-related offences,” the SPF said in its statement.
On March 23, 2015, the Malaysian police furnished the SPF with a warrant of arrest issued by a Malaysian court against Mohan for an offence of murder. The Malaysian police were conducting investigations against him for his possible involvement in a murder on March 2 in Georgetown, Penang, which was linked to the gang.
The Malaysian warrant of arrest was endorsed by a magistrate in Singapore and was executed on the same day, the SPF said.
Mohan was produced before a magistrate in the State Courts in Singapore, who then directed that he be transferred to the Malaysian court. He was handed over to the Malaysian police on the same day, the SPF said.
After a four-month-long investigation, the Malaysian authorities decided to take no further action against Mr Mohan and he was released on July 15 that year.
SPF: Transfer in accordance with laws
“The transfer of Mohan’s custody to the Malaysian authorities was done in accordance with the legal framework in our legislation (Section 121 of the Criminal Procedure Code),” the SPF said.
“This is a longstanding reciprocal arrangement between Singapore and Malaysia to mutually recognise and execute warrants of arrests within our respective jurisdictions.
“This arrangement has enabled Singapore’s law enforcement authorities to secure the return of many criminals who had fled to Malaysia after committing offences in Singapore.”
Between 2016 and 2019, Malaysian police assisted their Singapore counterparts to arrest more than 55 fugitives under this arrangement.
In return, the authorities here have nabbed and extradited more than 25 fugitives in this period.
One example is the capture of Took Leng How in 2004, who absconded to Malaysia during investigations into the murder of eight-year-old Huang Na.
Mohan also alleged that the police did not inform his family of his whereabouts and condition, and that his family only knew about his extradition to Malaysia when they went to the nearest police station to enquire.
Refuting this, the SPF said Mohan’s wife, mother and sister were present when the police searched his residence on the day of the arrest.
It added that Mohan’s brother was contacted on the same day he was handed over to the Malaysian police and was also given the contact details of the investigation officer there.
Mohan also claimed that both the SPF and Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) did not follow up with him after he was acquitted.
He said that he had to resort to buying his own flight ticket back to Singapore after his release and was even made to pay a fine for overstaying in Malaysia.
In response to TODAY’s queries, the MFA said: “Our High Commission in Kuala Lumpur monitored the outcome of the legal proceedings and assisted Mr Mohan’s next-of-kin to visit him while he was in detention.” ― TODAY
