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SINGAPORE: A man who was shot by a police officer after trying to seize his revolver during a raid in Balestier was charged on Friday (November 6) along with two co-defendants.
Prakash Mathivanan, 36, was each charged with voluntarily causing harm to a police officer by hitting and kicking him and tricking Singtel into giving seven iPhones worth S $ 14,273 to another man. He was charged in the Chamber of the Judicial Penal Registry, in a hearing that was not open to the public.
His co-defendant, Nikhil M. Durgude, 22, was charged with voluntarily causing harm to a police officer by hitting and kicking him.
The two men’s alleged attacks on the same police officer occurred around 1:20 am on Nov. 5 at 235 Balestier Road, according to the charge sheets.
The third co-defendant, 33-year-old Malani Naidu Prabhakar Naidu, received a charge of cheating Singtel that mirrors Prakash’s.
Prakash was shot in the abdomen by a police officer after trying to snatch his revolver from him and attack another officer.
He was taken to the hospital and was stable until Thursday night. Two policemen who were injured in the scuffle were also stable and recovering.
The raid was carried out by the police after a series of syndicated telecommunications scams. A telecommunications company reportedly incurred a loss of around S $ 43,000 from fraudulent phone sales.
NIKHIL ADDRESSES THE JUDGE
Speaking from where he was in pretrial detention, Nikhil said he did not kick or hit the police officer.
“They took the gun from him and they shot my friend. I did nothing and now … they want to accuse me of assaulting an officer,” he said.
“When they entered the house (they turned off) the light, then they fought with my friend, then they took out (a) gun and shot, but I was squatting on the floor and now they say they charge me for a cheat case (in which I’m involved.) I don’t know why they are arresting me, “he said.
“The laser was aimed at me, I didn’t do anything, I didn’t attack the officer at all, so they don’t want to let me talk to my mom or anyone else.”
Police said after the shooting that three officers had entered the Balestier unit and identified themselves to the four suspects inside, including the three defendants.
READ: Suspect shot by police during Balestier raid after attacking officer and trying to snatch revolver from him
They said Prakash suddenly pounced on an officer and attacked him repeatedly, causing him to fall to the ground, bleeding from his face.
He apparently did not stop his assault despite being warned, and Nikhil allegedly stepped forward and was deemed likely to join Prakash in his assault.
A second officer drew his revolver and warned Prakash to stop his assault, but he allegedly did not obey, suddenly running towards the second officer to grab his revolver.
In the ensuing fight, the second officer fired a bullet from his revolver and shot Prakash.
Prakash and Nikhil were already charged with committing other crimes before receiving the new charges.
Nikhil faces more than 20 charges, most related to drugs or for breach of conditions while under police supervision.
Prakash was sentenced in October 2018 to 34 months in jail, retroactive to his pretrial detention date in May 2017, on 13 counts, mostly cheating and cybercrime. A further 54 charges were taken into consideration.
He appealed, but his appeal was dismissed in January 2019. In addition to this, he faces more than 40 pending charges, including drug, robbery and cheating offenses.
All three defendants will return to court at a later date. The prosecutor tried to detain Nikhil for psychiatric observation, but the judge rejected him, and found no sufficient evidence for it, apart from the symptoms of depression that Nikhil exhibited in prison. Instead, he was referred for investigations.
Malani was also in custody for investigations and for a site visit, while Prakash is in hospital.
If convicted of willfully causing harm to a police officer to dissuade him from his duty, Prakash and Nikhil could be imprisoned for up to seven years, fined, flogged, or any combination of these penalties.
If convicted of cheating, Prakash and Malani can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
