(22 Dec) PUDUKKOTTAI
Three residents of Pudukkottai were deported from Singapore and landed here on Saturday, following their involvement in a riot at ‘Little India’ which rocked that country on December 8.
The three said the Singapore police took the call history from their mobile phones and took note of all who had contacted them. They were subsequently forced to admit to the offence. S Muruganandam (34), a resident of Vettanviduthi, who worked in Singapore for over eight years as an electrical supervisor, said that on December 10, police came to his work site, and took him to custody. “They gave me a red half trousers and a white vest and tied both my hands with a blue ribbon and questioned me for three days,” he said. He was one among the Tamils who were arrested after tracing the cellphone numbers from the persons already arrested on December 8 and 9.
“We pleaded them that we had no involvement in any kind of violence but they never paid any attention,” he said. Tamil speaking policemen questioned them and recorded statements on their own and in the end asked them to admit to the offence, Muruganandam said.
After the three days of questioning was over, the Indian Embassy authorities came and collected their details. Meanwhile, the Singapore police authorities received their salary dues from the employer and handed it over it to them. On Decemebr 19, five Tamils were also deported from Singapore, two of whom were from Pudukkottai and one each from Cuddalore, Kanyakumari and Kallakurichi.
While another resident S Dhinesh (29), of Karukkakurichi, was very cautious. “There was no problem. They sent us back suspicious of our involvement in the riot. But we were never involved at all”, he said and added that the Singapore authorities have assured them that they would be allowed to land there only after the investigations on the riot was over.
Meanwhile, S Pandian, of Pallathividuthi, who has reached Chennai is hesitating to face his relatives which was why he has been staying in Chennai, said his father.
*Article first appeared on http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/Forced-by-Cops-to-Admi...