Police officer charged with obtaining sexual gratification from female suspects in car parks

SINGAPORE: A staff sergeant with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) has been charged with multiple offences, including reportedly abusing his authority to obtain sexual gratification from two female suspects.

In return, he purportedly promised to help one woman avoid criminal prosecution and to help the other with her employer's queries about investigations against her.

Mahendran Selvarajoo, 31, was charged on Friday (Nov 29) with multiple offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Computer Misuse Act.

In one of the cases, Mahendran is accused of obtaining oral sex and intercourse from a woman at a multi-storey car park in Serangoon on Apr 30 in order to help her avoid criminal prosecution.

Charge sheets also state that he obtained two handjobs from another woman at another multi-storey car park on Feb 27.

This was purportedly in return for helping her with her employer's queries on investigations against her.

In November 2017, he allegedly accessed without authority a woman's mobile phone before taking pictures of three of her personal photos.

He is also charged with modifying the contents of a computer without authorisation, by copying videos and folders from laptops belonging to two female suspects and uploading them to his own portable storage devices.

Mahendran is also accused of having a total of 46 videos and 26 photos with obscene objects in his phone and USB flash drive.

He was represented by lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan, who asked for time to prepare documents and get his client's instructions.

District Judge Terence Tay adjourned the case to Dec 27, granting Mahendran S$15,000 bail.

SPF had referred the case to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB).

It said in a statement that CPIB will not hesitate to take firm action against all corrupt offenders, "including public officers who abuse their position of authority to cause undue harm to the public and tarnish the image of the public service". 

Anyone convicted of a corruption offence can be jailed for up to five years, fined up to $100,000 or both.

The police said in reply to CNA’s queries that Mahendran has been suspended since May 15 this year.

A police report was lodged against him and the case referred to CPIB after immediate investigations.

“The police also conducted investigations into the case the officer was handling to scrutinise all related evidence and found that the integrity of the findings was not compromised,” said the police spokesperson. Police investigations into the case are ongoing.

She added that SPF officers are expected to uphold the law and maintain the highest standards of conduct and integrity. 

“SPF will deal severely with officers who break the law, including charging them in court,” said the spokesperson.