A Singapore police investigation officer, S Vikneshvaran Subramaniam, was sentenced to 42 weeks' jail on May 12 after he pleaded guilty to four counts of forgery. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The court heard that he forged documents tied to cases he had investigated, including statements from accused people and other parties such as crime victims. [1, 2, 3, 4] One forged document was an acknowledgement form, known as an NP323, used to record the return of a seized identity card. [1, 2, 3, 4]
Vikneshvaran was posted to the Investigation Branch at Jurong Police Division in August 2019, where his duties included recording statements from accused persons and witnesses and handling property seized during investigations. [1, 2, 3, 4] The offences were committed between June 2021 and February 2023, according to the English reports, while the Chinese report gives the start date as July 2021. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The affected cases had to be re-investigated and fresh statements were taken, but their final outcomes were not changed. [1, 2, 3, 4] Reports said five case files were affected, with seven forged statements and, in the Chinese report, two forged acknowledgement forms. [1, 2, 3, 4]
In one case, a matter involving a seized identity card was concluded in March 2022 with a court order for the card to be returned to its rightful owner. [1, 2, 3, 4] The reports said Vikneshvaran signed a forged NP323 on April 12, 2022, using the owner's purported signature, then used it to close the matter. [1, 2, 4]
The Singapore Police Force said he had been suspended from duty and would face internal action. “(We) will commence internal action against him... (Our officers) are expected to uphold the law and maintain the highest standards of conduct and integrity. We deal sternly with officers who break the law, including charging them in court,” a police spokesperson said. [4]
