SINGAPORE — Eleven men suspected to be involved in a brawl that left one man dead were escorted by police officers to the crime scene along Orchard Road on Sunday (Aug 27).

Among them was 29-year-old Asvain Pachan Pillai Sukumaran, who was charged with the murder of Mr Mohammad Isrrat Mohd Ismail earlier this week.

Dressed in a red polo shirt, blue shorts and slippers, Asvain was first to arrive at close to 9am in an unmarked van. He was taken to Concorde Hotel and Shopping Mall, which had sections cordoned off. 

The other 10 suspects arrived after, and were taken out one by one.

Asvain was flanked by plain clothes police officers as the group stopped at a staircase for a few minutes before walking to the front of the building.

He was then led into the shopping mall, with the media not allowed to follow.

Sometime later Asvain came back out by the main entrance and was taken to a stretch of shops, where he was seen pointing at the ground and speaking through an interpreter. He left at 9.17am.

Aside from Asvain, nine of the men have been charged with rioting with deadly weapons. 

Another man — the 11th linked to the incident — was given a charge of voluntarily causing hurt with a dangerous weapon.

On Tuesday, the police prosecutor asked for the accused to be remanded for investigations, saying investigating officers would need to take them out for scene revisits, raids or to recover any exhibits.

The men will return to court next week.

The police said in an earlier statement that the fight had broken out due to a dispute, and that all those involved knew each other.

Weapons including two pen knives and a bread knife were seized by the police.

If convicted of murder, Asvain could be sentenced to death.

The penalty for rioting while armed with a deadly weapon is a jail term of up to 10 years and caning.

The penalty for voluntarily causing hurt with a cutting instrument is a jail term of up to seven years, a fine, caning, or any combination of these punishments. CNA