Malaysian man of Indian-origin sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Singapore
Singapore, Feb 5: A Malaysian man of Indian-origin has been sentenced to death by a court here for delivering heroin in Singapore and acting as a middleman for drug traffickers, according to a media report.
Kishor Kumar Raguan, 41, rode his motorcycle into Singapore to deliver a bag containing more than 900 grams of a powdery substance in July 2016. The four bundles inside the bag brought in were later analysed to contain 36.5 grams of heroin.
The law provides for the death penalty if the amount of heroin trafficked is more than 15 grams.
Singaporean national of Chinese-origin Pung Ah Kiang, 61, who received the bag from Raguan, was sentenced to life imprisonment for possessing the drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
In written grounds released on Friday, High Court Justice Audrey Lim said she found that both Raguan and Pung knew that the bundles contained heroin, The Straits Times newspaper reported on Friday.
Rejecting Raguan's defence that he believed the bag contained "stones", the judge said the Indian-origin man, who was involved in drug activities, had failed to show that he genuinely believed the bundles contained something innocuous.
She found that Kishor was told that the items to be delivered were "kallu", which he knew referred to heroin.
Justice Lim also rejected Pung's claim that he did not know what was in the bag and was merely keeping it temporarily for his brother-in-law.
She imposed life imprisonment on Pung as he was certified by the prosecution to have substantively assisted the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) in disrupting drug trafficking activities, the report said.
"As the prosecution did not issue Kishor with a certificate of substantive assistance... I passed the mandatory death sentence on him," it quoted the judge as saying.
Raguan had brought the bag containing the bundles of drugs into Singapore on July 29, 2016, and delivered it to Pung near his Paya Lebar condominium.
Pung was arrested by CNB officers as he was walking back to his condominium. He was then escorted to his home, where more drugs were found.
Raguan's DNA was found on the bundles he delivered to Pung. The prosecution contended that Raguan knew he was delivering "kallu" - a street name for heroin - and was told to collect Singapore dollars 6,000 from Pung.
The prosecution said Raguan was no stranger to illegal drugs as he had acted as a middleman for drug transactions.
In his defence, Raguan said he was promised USD 160 to deliver something to Singapore and was told that the item was "like a stone". He claimed that he thought they could either be decorative stones or rocks and pebbles, but did not think too much about it.
The convict claimed that he unravelled the black tape of the bundles but did not recognise the "brown-coloured things" inside.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Opposition plans to move fresh notice seeking removal of CEC Gyanesh Kumar
New Delhi (PTI): Undeterred by the rejection of their earlier notices, opposition parties are planning a fresh move to seek the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, sources said on Saturday.
According to highly placed sources, leaders from several opposition parties are in talks, and at least five senior MPs from different parties -- including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the DMK -- are working on drafting a new notice to initiate removal proceedings.
It has, however, not yet been decided which House the notice would be moved in, or whether it would be introduced in both Houses as was done last time, the source added.
Buoyed by the defeat of The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 in Lok Sabha on Friday, opposition leaders are aiming to secure more MPs' signatures on the notice and are looking at garnering at least 200, the source said.
"We want to make a statement. We first need to prove that the number last time was underestimated," the source added.
In its earlier notices, the opposition had accused CEC Kumar of a "failure to maintain independence and constitutional fidelity" and of acting under the "thumb of the executive".
The notices levelled sweeping charges against the CEC, alleging “proved misbehaviour” on grounds including a compromised and executive-influenced appointment, partisan functioning -- such as the alleged “graded response” doctrine targeting opposition leaders -- obstruction of electoral fraud investigations, and erosion of transparency through refusal to share data and materials.
They further accused him of enabling large-scale disenfranchisement via Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercises in Bihar and elsewhere, defying or delaying compliance with Supreme Court directions, and acting in alignment with the political executive, thereby undermining the independence of the Election Commission.
However, in almost similar responses, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan rejected the notices, holding that even if the allegations were assumed to be true, they did not meet the high constitutional threshold of “misbehaviour” required for removal.
They reasoned that appointment-related issues or prior government service do not constitute misconduct; differences in public statements or administrative decisions lack evidence of wilful abuse of authority; and actions like data-sharing or electoral roll revisions fall within the commission’s constitutional mandate and are subject to judicial review.
The responses also stressed that many issues cited were either speculative, politically interpretative, or sub judice, and that removal proceedings cannot be based on disagreement or perceived political consequences but require clear, specific, and provable misconduct, which, they concluded, was absent in this case.
