Two men fined for taking law into own hands

[konglanjiaowei]

Two men fined for taking law into own hands
By Leong Wee Keat | Posted: 15 September 2010 1411 hrs
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SINGAPORE: Two men who confronted a purported bogus fortune teller were fined for taking the law into their own hands, a District Court heard today.

Arvindan Amurthalingam, 31, and Nadarajan Raman, 35, met a free-lance fortune teller from India, Mr Thirumavalavan Mani on June 10 at a Sengkang flat.

When Arvindan provided a false name to the fortune teller who went on to read the fortune with the false names, the duo accused Mr Thirumavalavan of cheating them.

When the fortune teller denied the allegations, both Arvindan and Nadarajan went through the fortune teller's personal belongings and took $450 in cash, his Indian passport and two notebooks.

In their mitigation, the duo's defence lawyers argued their clients had a "misguided sense of justice" about exposing the purported fortune teller after hearing about him. Nadarajan wanted to take the passport to report Mr Thirumavalavan to the police but lost his head and took matters into his own hands, lawyer Amarick Gill said.

Further, the duo paid $1,250 to the victim to compound a charge of slapping Mr Thirumavalavan.

District Judge Low Wee Ping agreed that this case was "unique" but felt the duo should not have taken the law into their own hands.

He fined Arvindan $3,000 and Nadarajan $4,000 as the latter had taken the items. - CNA/fa