Yesterday (25 Jun), it was reported in the media that one Nalla Rajan Naidu Adhiseshan was sentenced to 18 months’ jail for two charges of cheating by personation and another of voluntarily causing hurt using a dangerous weapon.
The 58-year old was first arrested back in 2006 after he slashed a newspaper vendor at a 7-Eleven store, whom he had an argument with, while intoxicated. While out on bail, he absconded.
In 2017, Naidu fell off his bicycle and went to Sengkang Polyclinic seeking medical attention. At the Polyclinic, he presented a photocopy of an NRIC belonging to one Chandran Sinathanmby, who was in jail at that time.
According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Chew Xin Ying, Chandran had lost his NRIC years ago. Naidu somehow managed to obtain a copy of the lost IC before adding his own address. Using the altered NRIC, Naidu then registered as a patient at Sengkang Polyclinic under Chandran’s name.
He subsequently visited the polyclinic several more times, where he subsequently received a referral to Changi General Hospital (CGH) for an abnormal liver function test.
After CGH received the referral, it conducted a check and found that the real Chandran was in jail at the time and thus could not have visited the polyclinic. Acting on the information by CGH, the polyclinic lodged a police report.
Three months later, Naidu was at home when the battery of his electric bike caught fire. He was then taken to Singapore General Hospital for breathing difficulties where he was warded for one night. At SGH, he again used the photocopy of Chandran’s NRIC for registration and left without paying the bill.
Arrested only 1.5 years after the initial police report in 2017
Despite the police report in 2017, Naidu managed to remain a free man until Feb 2019 where he was arrested at the Sengkang General Hospital by a comical series of events.
By that time, Chandran had been released from prison and had received an SMS from SKGH about an orthopaedic surgery appointment on 25 Feb. He thus turned up at the hospital, where a doctor asked him about a foot fracture.
This took Chandran by surprise, as his foot was not fractured and he had not visited SKGH before. There, he also bumped into Naidu, who was in a wheelchair. Seeing that he was wheelchair-bound, Chandran offered to help Naidu with his registration.
When Naidu’s queue number was called, Chandran wheeled him to the registration counter, and Naidu handed the photocopy of Chandran’s NRIC to the hospital employee.
Chandran then realised that Naidu was using a copy of his NRIC and alerted the hospital staff, who called the police. While the latter tried to run away, he was detained by hospital security and finally remanded.
From Naidu’s abscondment in 2006, he was finally caught by police after 13 years and that was only through a comical coincidence. And despite the many close encounters Naidu had with the police in the 13 years, he somehow was able to evade them.
Perhaps when Naidu is released from Prison later, the police should consider offering him a job as a consultant to teach the police how to better find fugitives on an island? What do you think?
