A GROUP of off-duty Gurkha police officers were clubbing in Clarke Quay when they got into a scuffle with another group of partygoers.
The fight, apparently started when the Gurkhas tried to befriend a woman from the other group, landed a security officer in hospital for two weeks with a fractured skull.
Yesterday, Raj Kumar Ligal, a 24-year-old Nepalese, was jailed for nine months for grievously hurting Mr Ramasamy Muruganantham, 38, outside The Arena pub early on April 1.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang told the court that Mr Muruganantham and three friends, including assistant supervisor See Yoke Peng, were at the nightspot on the evening of March 31.
Ligal and his friends turned up later. While they were dancing, a quarrel broke out between them and Mr Arulvanan Kanniah, 35, who was in Mr Muruganantham’s group, over the Gurkhas’ attempt to befriend Ms See, 29.
Bouncers ushered both parties out of the pub at about 3am.
Investigations showed that the dispute descended into fisticuffs outside the pub.
During the scuffle, Ligal approached Mr Muruganantham and kicked him, causing him to fall. His head struck a metal pole supporting a canopy and he blacked out.
He was hospitalised until April 13 because of his head injury.
Ligal, who did not have a lawyer, could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined or caned.
