Indian citizen arrested in Singapore for violating Official Secrets Act

A 22-year old Indian national and a Singaporean of Indian descent were charged by a court here on Wednesday under the Official Secrets Act for unauthorised communication about an apartment inspection.

Damandeep Singh allegedly received the information while having reasonable grounds to believe that it was communicated to him in contravention of the Official Secrets Act, said the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

He received the information from Kalayarasan Karuppaya, an Indian-origin higher estate executive with the Housing and Development Board (HDB), the public housing authority.

The 44-year-old Singaporean allegedly leaked information on HDB's impending inspections of a flat at Kim Tian Road, off the central business district, to Singh, a registered tenant of the unit, according to a Channel News Asia report.

Kalayarasan was not authorised to communicate the information to Singh, said CPIB. He did so on three occasions in May, August and September 2019.

They were charged on Wednesday over unauthorised communication about flat inspections, said the report citing a CIPB release.

Each man faces three charges for offences under the Official Secrets Act. If convicted, they could be jailed for up to two years and fined up to 2,000 Singapore dollars (USD 1,504) for each charge.

Singapore adopts a strict zero-tolerance approach towards corruption and other criminal activities, said the CPIB.