Little India riot inquiry panel gets two-week extension

An inquiry panel into Singapore's worst riots in 40 years, sparked by the death of an Indian worker in a road accident, has been granted a two-week extension and will submit its report by the end of this month.
The Committee of Inquiry (COI) will submit its findings to Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean.
Teo has granted the committee a two-week extension to the original June 13 deadline so that it can go through testimonies and other relevant information, reported The Straits Times today.
The COI Secretariat said in a statement today that following the conclusion of the public hearing on March 26, the committee has conducted "further inquiry".

This included interviews held last Tuesday with several Indian nationals who have been convicted for their role in Singapore's worst public order disturbance in more than 40 years.
The committee was presided over by a four-man panel chaired by former Supreme Court Judge G Pannir Selvam.

The COI heard that 23 emergency vehicles were damaged and 54 responding officers injured in the riot on the night of December 8, 2013, which was sparked by the death of another Indian national in an accident with a bus.
Twenty-five Indian nationals, working in Singapore on permits, were charged for rioting following the fatal accident in Little India, a precinct of Indian origin businesses, eateries and pubs.

Cases against 15 men involved in the riot are pending while one has claimed trial with a verdict expected next month. Cases of others have been dealt with.
Fifty-two Indians were deported from Singapore for their alleged involvement in the violence.
Some 400 migrant workers from South Asia were alleged to have been involved in the riots in which 54 Singaporean officers were injured and 23 emergency vehicles damaged.
Singapore previously witnessed violence on such a scale during race riots in 1969.