Two more Indian nationals jailed for rioting in Singapore

Two more Indian nationals in Singapore were today jailed for 18 weeks each for their role in the country's worst riot in 40 years in Decmeber last year.

Thangaiya Selvakumar, 25, and Thiagarajan Sribalamurugan,23, had originally faced rioting charges, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in jail and caning, The Straits Times reported. But they were sentenced under amended charge for disobeying dispersal commands, an offence which carries up to two years in jail and or fine.

Their sentences would be backdated to the date of their arrests on December 8, 2013, the night when some 400 migrant workers from South Asia rioted following a fatal accident involving an Indian national.

The two are the fourth and fifth men to plead guilty under an amended charge out of the 25 who were originally charged for rioting. Three others have been sentenced to serve between 15 and 18 weeks in jail under the amended charge. Twenty others were now facing the rioting charge. The riot in Singapore's Little India precinct of Indian origin businesses left 49 police and Home Team officers injured.

The rioters also damaged more than SGD 650,000 worth of properties including 23 emergency cars, five of which were set on fire.