Indian national wins big in Korean survival drama Squid Game at Singapore company dinner-dance
Singapore, Jun 1: An Indian national has won SGD18,888 in cash at the company's dinner-and-dance event in the hit South Korean survival drama Squid Game, where players compete to win life-altering rewards, but minus the deadly stakes.
The prize money is equivalent to one and half years' worth of his salary at the heavy vehicle leasing firm Pollisum Engineering which hosted the event last Saturday, reported The Straits Times.
Selvam Arumugam, 42, had not heard of the show before.
Selvam works as a rigger and signalman, inspecting and maintaining crane and lifting equipment to ensure the safety of lifting operations at construction sites for Pollisum Engineering which gave out a total of SGD100,000 in prize money during the event.
Selvam, who studied up to Secondary 1 in India and joined the company in 2015, supports 15 family members back home. His parents and two brothers have died, leaving behind their wives and a total of seven children. He also provides for his in-laws.
Selvam said he will use the prize money to build a family home in India the family currently lives in a rental flat and help his brothers' children pay for their studies.
"When I found out that I had won, I couldn't believe it... I called my entire family to tell them about this good news," he said in Tamil.
"My wife thought it was a joke at first until (my friend) spoke to her. All of them were celebrating and crying at the same time. This will be a moment that we will never forget for our entire lives," Selvam added.
In the Netflix series, hundreds of cash-strapped contestants compete in children's games for a huge cash prize while risking their lives in the process.
Players at the dinner and dance sported red tracksuit jackets with number tags, while game masters wore red hooded jumpsuits, like characters in the drama series.
A giant inflatable ball filled with money hung from the ceiling in full view of the players, similar to the show' piggy bank.
Despite not understanding the rules of the games, he tried his best, said Selvam, who has a wife and three teenage children. He first came to Singapore to work in 2007 from Tamil Nadu.
He copied what players in front of him were doing and ran as fast as he could during the Red Light, Green Light game and managed to escape elimination.
In a TikTok video of the event, Selvam is seen falling to his knees and covering his face with his hands in disbelief when he learnt he had won the top prize. He won SGD18,888 (more than Rs 11.50 lakh) in cash.
The company's annual dinner and dance was attended by 210 employees, including mechanics, drivers and sales staff.
Executive director Chris Ang said the company wanted to reward its workers as it has been doing well and expanding in the past two years.
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
