An Indian-origin man has been jailed for four months over a 2004 Singapore bomb hoax call made to the police. A drunk Ganesan Singaravel had told the Singapore police about the presence of a bomb at the Oxley Road house of late founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew.
Ganesan Singaravel, now 61, was sentenced on Monday after he pleaded guilty to an offence under the country’s Telecommunications Act, The Straits Times reported.
The court was told that Ganesan fled Singapore on 22 January 2005, after informing the police about the purported bomb. Caught overstaying in the United States in 2018, he told the authorities there that he wanted to return to Singapore. Ganesan was detained when he landed in Singapore on 15 July 2018.
According to the prosecution, Ganesan went to a popular Orchard Road spot in Singapore around midnight on November 13, 2004, and consumed alcohol until about 4 am, before going to a nearby convenience store to buy more drinks. Around 5 am, the police said, officers attached to the Combined Operations Room of the Singapore Police Force received a call from him talking about a bomb at Lee’s house.
“The call was made by the accused from a public phone located next to the Thai embassy. The call’s message was clearly false and the accused knew that the text of the call was false,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Benjamin Samynathan told the court.
“A patrol car was sent to Orchard Towers to interview and arrest the accused. The accused was coherent during his interactions with the officers at the scene. Meanwhile, the officers who were already stationed at Oxley Road were told to step up patrols and be alert and vigilant,” he added.
Ganesan was charged on 16 November 2004, but he fled Singapore about two months later while out on bail.
In their mitigation plea, defence lawyers said their client was drunk when he committed the offence.
The plea added: “The accused realises how alcohol has utterly destroyed his life and family, leading to his wife to divorce him, leaving him with nothing and his children to give up on him.”