Indian national jailed, fine in Singapore for road accident that killed senior law professor

An Indian national was sentenced to two years and a month in jail and fined SGD2,000 on Friday by a Singapore court for killing a senior National University of Singapore (NUS) law professor in a road accident in 2023.

On July 7, 2023, Natarajan Mohanraj (28), a construction worker looked at his mobile phone while driving a lorry and the vehicle hit a car driven by Emeritus Professor Tan Yock Lin (70).

The injured was taken to a hospital where he died later that day due to multiple injuries.

According to a report by The Straits Times, Natarajan had a history of careless driving. The Traffic Police had issued him a notice in June 2023 to surrender his licence before July 25, but the accident occurred two weeks before the deadline.

Despite the accident, Natarajan continued to drive another lorry on two separate occasions in 2024 after his licence was revoked.

He had pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including causing death by driving without due care. The court also barred him from driving for life, the Singapore daily said in its report.

He was also prohibited from driving any motor vehicle in Singapore for life.

“The lorry mounted the kerb of the centre divider, smashed through the green metal railings, and uprooted two trees before emerging onto the opposite (side) of the road, directly against the flow of oncoming traffic and in its path,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Sunil Nair said.

The lorry struck Tan’s car, causing the car to spin and hit the front of a nearby van, which veered to the left. The van then hit the side of a bus, the court heard.

The 28-year-old van driver suffered injuries including fractured ribs.

Prof Tan, who suffered fractures to his skull, was trapped inside his severely damaged car and Singapore Civil Defence Force officers took around an hour to get him out.

He died of multiple injuries shortly before noon that day at the hospital.

The road was closed for almost three hours to get the victim out of the car, remove the damaged vehicles and clear the debris, DPP Nair said.

Court documents revealed that Natarajan re-offended after the fatal accident and continued driving on two separate occasions in 2024 even though his licence had already been revoked by then.

On the first occasion on Jan 3, 2024, he drove another man’s lorry with the latter’s permission and a traffic police officer later intercepted him for not wearing a seatbelt.

Without the owner’s permission, Natarajan drove the same lorry in May that year before a traffic police officer stopped him.