Cabby lied to police that fare evader tried to rob him, causing him to be detained for over 40 hours

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
Mar 5, 2024

Unhappy with a passenger who ran away instead of paying for his cab ride, a taxi driver lied to the police that the man had tried to steal his wallet containing $300 in cash.

On March 5, Mohd Salim Yusop, 66, pleaded guilty to giving false information to a public servant and was sentenced to a 10-day short detention order (SDO). Offenders given an SDO are jailed for a short time, but they will not have a criminal record after their release.

As a result of Salim’s lie, the fare evader, Malaysian waiter Gunalan Veerasamy, 35, was arrested on the day of the incident in March 2023 for attempted theft and detained for more than 40 hours before he was released on bail.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tin Shu Min said Mr Gunalan would not have been arrested “had the true state of facts been known to (the police)”.

Instead, the police would have referred Mr Gunalan to the Land Transport Authority over his failure to pay the taxi fare.

Court documents did not disclose if Salim is still a taxi driver. They also did not state if any action was taken against Mr Gunalan for not paying the fare.

On March 20, 2023, at around 7.30am, Mr Gunalan boarded Salim’s taxi near Marsiling MRT station and wanted to go to a block of flats in Jalan Tenaga near Bedok Reservoir Road.

Claiming he had a stomach ache, Mr Gunalan told Salim to stop the taxi near Block 121 Bedok Reservoir Road so he could use a toilet in a coffee shop.

After Salim stopped the taxi, he told Mr Gunalan to pay him the taxi fare of $33.70 or hand over his mobile phone as collateral before going to the toilet.

They had a dispute when Mr Gunalan refused to do so before running away.

Salim gave chase and Mr Gunalan was caught with the help of several other people. Court documents did not state whether Mr Gunalan paid the fare after his capture.

The cabby then called the police, claiming the waiter had robbed him.

When a policeman arrived at the scene, Salim lied that Mr Gunalan was seated in the front passenger seat when he purportedly tried to steal Salim’s wallet.

Mr Gunalan was arrested and taken to Bedok Division Headquarters for further investigation.

DPP Tin said footage taken from a camera in the vicinity later revealed that Mr Gunalan was in the rear passenger seat.

Salim admitted he had been lying after a screenshot of the footage was shown to him.

On March 5, DPP Tin noted that Salim had a clean record before this incident and told the court: “The prosecution accepts that the accused had acted out of character and due to frustration at the fare evasion, which would have had an impact on his livelihood.”

For giving false information to a public servant, an offender can be jailed for up to two years and fined.