Chennai: Indians and other foreign workers in Singapore are safe and the post-riot situation is well under control, according to High CommÂissioner Lim Thuan Kuan of Singapore in New Delhi. In a statement, he strongly denied a Tamil TV channel reporting that the Monday rioting had led to the Indian Tamils hiding in their homes following attacks by Singaporeans and Chinese.
“The riot was an isolated incident arising from the unlawful actions of an unruly mob reacting to a fatal traffic accident. The vast majority of foreign workers in Singapore are peaceful, hardworking and law-abiding workers,” Kuan said.
He said the Indian high commissioner in SingaÂpore was in close contact with the authorities there and provided consular assistance to the family of the deceased as well as those arrested for rioting.
Denying that the decÂeased Indian Tamil (ShÂaÂktivel Kumaravelu) was pushed out of the bus by the driver, the envoy said the facts based on eyewitnesses and video evidence was that he had “boarded the bus when it was already full... also appÂeaÂred to be drunk and was causing trouble on the bus, even dropping his trouÂsers.”
After he was “assisted off the bus”, he ran alongside the bus “in an unsteady manner while holding onto his pants…stumbled and fell onto the path of the back wheel of the bus and was run over.”
“When the first ambulance and police car arrived soon after being activated, an agitated mob of about 100 had formed around the scene of the accident and this escalated into the riot involving about 400 persons,” KuÂan said, adding that the situation was eventually controlled and 24 Indians had been arrested and charged for rioting.
The Singapore police was now investigating the incident and the driver of the bus, who was also arrested for causing death by negligent act, “is currently assisting the police with investigation.”
