Law Society disputes suggestions of ‘nefarious plot’

SINGAPORE — Three more Indian nationals who were charged yesterday with rioting in Little India last Sunday were informed in court that pro bono legal assistance was available to them — the same was offered to the initial 24 who ended up in the dock on Tuesday — as the Law Society (LawSoc) disputed that this was a “nefarious plot” to exclude any particular lawyer from acting for the suspects.

Social activist Vincent Wijeysingha had asked if the move was to prevent the involvement of activist lawyers like Mr M Ravi, after a lawyer told the court on behalf of LawSoc on Tuesday that assistance under the Criminal Legal Aid Scheme (CLAS) was available to the alleged rioters.

Noting that Mr Ravi is on the list of lawyers who have volunteered to act for these suspects, LawSoc said there is no basis to insinuate any “nefarious plot” to exclude any particular lawyer.

“And so, the CLAS representative rejected this unfair and spurious allegation,” it said, adding that the suspects were entitled to engage lawyers of their choice.

The three charged yesterday are said to be among a group of at least eight who hurled objects at the private bus that ran over an Indian national.

Rajendran Ranjan, 22, Moorthy Kabildev, 24, and Sathiyamoorthy Sivaraman, 26, are accused of throwing a dustbin at and using a wooden stick to smash the bus windscreen, among other things. A video clip of the attack on the bus has gone viral since Sunday.

The trio have been remanded for one week for further investigations. AMANDA LEE