Indian-origin man jailed for bursting crackers

An Indian-origin man has been jailed for three weeks in Singapore and also fined for setting off fireworks near housing blocks during Diwali celebrations last year.

Jeevan Arjoon, 29, bought an assortment of fireworks from Little India Diwali bazaar and unlawfully set off the crackers at 3.30 a.m. on the festival night on November 6, the Straits Times reported on Thursday.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jean Goh said that based on witness accounts, the fireworks were loud enough to be heard from the surrounding Housing Board blocks of Yishun.

The report said that the "illegal pyrotechnics display lasted around five minutes but no one was hurt and no property damaged".

District Judge Marvin Bay said that the detonation of fireworks could have caused serious injuries and posed a risk of fires. Arjoon was jailed and fined 5,000 Singapore dollars after he pleaded guilty to one count each of letting off the fireworks and giving false information to a police officer.

"Notably, the fireworks were set off close to a cluster of public housing. It is also quite evident that setting off these fireworks would cause considerable alarm to the public... This is particularly so... as we live in a time of heightened concern over possible acts of terrorism," said the judge.

Arjoon was also convicted of giving false information to a police officer during investigation into the firework incident. He had told Inspector Lim Jing Xiang during the time that a 32-year-old man known as Mattavan Michael Douglas was the one who bought the fireworks.

"The accused admitted that he had done so in order to push the blame for his offence to Michael and to exact revenge... because he felt that Michael had sabotaged him by telling police that the accused was the one who had set off the fireworks on November 6, 2018," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Jean Goh.

The report said that court documents did not state whether Douglas had indeed informed the police about Arjoon's actions. The documents also did not give details about relations between the two men.

--IANS

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