6 mengaku tak salah culik, samun pasangan warga Singapura

Johor Bahru Sessions Court granted bail to six locals accused of sexual harassment, kidnapping, and causing injury to a Singaporean couple's relationship. The accused individuals are M Balamurugam, 46; K Saravanan, 40; P Sri Devi, 41; G Puganeswaran, 38; S Gobinath, 38; and X Adwin Nicholas, 41. They face four charges, including attempting to extort SGD20,000 (RM63,000) from Al-Shameer B Abdul Nassar at a church in Jalan Orkid, Skudai, on 2nd August 2020.

The charges also include offenses under Section 3 of the Rape Act 1961 and Section 34 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which carry a maximum prison sentence of 40 years and a fine if found guilty. The Attorney-General's Prosecution did not offer surety for one of the charges due to the severity of the offense, which cannot be bailed.

Legal counsel K Veeranesh represented Sri Devi but requested that her minor children be bailed. The court allowed each accused to be bailed at RM50,000 with two sureties, in addition to the requirement to remain absent from the police station for one month and surrender their international passports to the court. Balamurugam, Saravanan, and Gobinath also pleaded not guilty to the charge of damaging a gold chain and Rolex watch belonging to the victim, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years and a fine.

They were bailed at RM9,000 each due to the inability to guarantee the bail amount. In a separate case, the same six accused were found not guilty of abducting Singaporean resident Zaylen Zayraelle Xie Manting, who was being secretly held in a private block at Skudai Villa, Taman Skudai Baru, between 8th and 11th August 2020. They were charged under Section 365 and Section 34 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a fine.

The court bailed them at RM10,000 with two sureties, and ordered Sri Devi, Gobinath, and Saravanan to surrender their passports. Saravanan and Puganeswaran were fined RM3,000 for falsely accusing Al-Shameer of being injured with a knife in a similar incident at Skudai Villa on 11th August 2020. They were also sentenced to six months in jail if they failed to pay the fine. The court has set a date of 23rd September for the next hearing.