"the woman had agreed to have intercourse with him"
A policeman with the Singapore Police Force (SPF) has been jailed for two years after he asked two women for sexual favours in return for helping them with their cases.
Investigation Officer (IO) Mahendran Selvarajoo, aged 32, also stole compromising photos and videos of the women from their personal devices without their permission.
Selvarajoo first joined the SPF in September 2010. As an IO with the Commercial Crimes Squad, he was tasked to carry out investigations by interviewing witnesses. This is how he got access to his victims.
He was given a case involving the misuse of credit card details. He recorded a woman’s statement at Clementi Division on April 25, 2019.
Selvarajoo was later told that the case was assigned to another police division.
Despite not being in charge of the case, Selvarajoo contacted the woman and asked her to come down to the police station to sign amendments to her statements.
The woman claimed she was busy but the two arranged to meet at 8 pm that night.
Selvarajoo then told her that he needed to search her laptop for evidence relating to the alleged fraud.
The pair went to the woman’s house where she signed the amended police statement, which contained details in her favour. The policeman had put in new details to show he had the power to help the woman.
Selvarajoo looked through the woman’s laptop and found her nude photos. He told her that needed to take the laptop for further investigations.
Selvarajoo copied six folders containing the woman’s pictures and videos to his portable storage device. He later returned the laptop to the woman.
When he reached her home at 12:39 am on April 30, 2019, he told the woman to enter his car.
He reassured her before asking about her personal life and relationship. Selvarajoo then drove to a nearby multi-storey car park where they engaged in sexual acts.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Charis Low said:
“The woman did so as she wanted the accused to help her to avoid being prosecuted for the alleged credit card fraud, and she believed that the accused had the power to do so.
“The accused knew that the woman had agreed to have intercourse with him as she believed that he would be able to help her receive a warning in lieu of prosecution.”
On another occasion, the policeman recorded another woman’s statement who was eventually given a warning for shop theft.
On February 28, 2018, he contacted the woman to return her handbag and the two kept in contact.
When the woman became less responsive over time, Selvarajoo told her that her employer’s Human Resources department had contacted SPF regarding the investigations.
He knew that the woman would be worried about losing her job.
On February 27, 2019, he met with the woman at Ang Mo Kio shopping centre.
Selvarajoo offered to drive the woman home but instead drove to a multi-storey car park where he asked her to have sex with him. The woman declined, saying that she was on her period.
DDP Low said:
“The accused asked (the woman) to ‘help (him) to release’ and asked her to give him a ‘handjob’ instead.”
“The woman acquiesced as she was worried about her employer’s queries and wanted the accused to help her by managing the queries in a favourable manner.”
The woman complied again when Selvarajoo asked for a second ‘handjob’.
Selvarajoo also copied explicit videos involving a woman he recorded a statement from in May 2019. He asked her to hand over her laptop and phone.
He then copied three sexual videos involving the woman and her boyfriend into his USB flash drive for his own personal viewing.
The policeman pleaded guilty to two charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act and two charges under the Computer Misuse Act.
One charge under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act was taken into consideration for his sentencing.
The Straits Times reported that Selvarajoo was jailed for two years on September 23, 2020.
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