CNB officer charged with assaulting man to extort a confession from him

Singapore—An officer from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) has been charged with assault. He is said to have hit a man repeatedly for the purpose of extorting a confession from him and was charged in court on October 4, Friday.

Thirty-two-year-old Vengedesh Raj Nainar Nagarajan, an officer with the CNB, has been charged with three counts of voluntarily causing hurt to extort a confession, according to his charge sheets.

The man he allegedly assaulted, Sivabalan Kanniappan, had been found with drugs amongst his possessions.

Mr Vengedesh is said to have kicked and punched Mr Sivabalan three times on January 2, 2017, and also reportedly slapped him one time.

The alleged assault is said to have happened in a bathroom of the Woodlands Checkpoint CNB Block B office on the third storey between 5:58 and 9:30 on the morning of January 2.

From 5:58 am to 6:14 am, Mr Vengedesh reportedly slapped, kicked, and punched Mr Sivabalan.

Later, between 8:35 am and 8:43 am, he supposedly punched and kicked him again.

And finally, between 9:28 am and 9:30 am, the CNB officer allegedly assaulted Mr Sivabalan again.

On all three occasions of the alleged assault, Mr Vengedesh reportedly sought to extort confessions from  Mr Sivabalan.

The charge sheets indicate that as the CNB officer was assaulting Mr Sivabalan, he was asking him to confess that he knew about a package of illegal substances that had been discovered in his raincoat bag, that among the substances was heroin, and that Mr Sivabalan was aware of another package of drugs, also located in the raincoat bag.

The court documents do not indicate any additional information about Mr Sivabalan’s case.

If he is convicted of voluntarily causing hurt to extort a confession, the CNB officer could be jailed for as long as seven years for each count, along with caning or being made to pay a fine.

Mr Vengedesh will be back in court on November 1 and was offered bail in the amount of $ 15,000.

The CNB, along with nine other agencies “committed to a common mission to keep Singapore safe and secure” is part of the Home Team. It was established in 1971 “as the primary drug enforcement agency entrusted with the responsibilities of coordinating all matters pertaining to drug eradication. In 1994, the Committee to Improve the Drug Situation in Singapore was set up to look into the drug situation and it recommended a total and integrated approach to deal with the drug problem.”

The Bureau employs four main strategies to achieve its goals, namely: Preventive Drug Education, Rigorous Enforcement, Treatment and Rehabilitation for addicts, and finally, Aftercare and Continued Rehabilitation for ex-addicts to reintegrate them into society. CNB has also taken on “the responsibility of preventive drug education in addition to drug enforcement,” according to its website./ TISG

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