An Indian national has been sentenced to five months in jail for obstructing a police officer from carrying out his job during the Dec 8, 2013, riots here, media reported Friday.
Selvanathan Murugesan, 28, who worked as a construction worker here with his brother-in-law was heading to the Little India Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station around 10.40 p.m. Dec 8 last year after having drinks when the pair were stopped by police, the Straits Times reported.
Police told them to go to Farrer Park Station instead, as their original route towards Race Course Road had been cordoned off because a riot had broken out in Little India.
They refused to follow the order, shouted at police and resisted arrest, the report said.
The riots were sparked off in the locality after an Indian, Sakthivel Kumaravel, was run over by a bus. This was the worst outbreak of violence in the country in more than four decades.
--Indo-Asian News service
bb/ab/vt
