Indian-origin Singaporean jailed for planning to extort businessman filmed having sex with another man

Mahadevan Edwyn, who committed the offence while he was under a remission order, was promised a 50-50 split of the amount negotiated through phone calls from the 53-year-old businessman

Photo for representation purposes. iStock

Singapore, November 29

An Indian-origin Singaporean on Monday was sentenced to 18 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of criminal intimidation while being a part of a four-man plan to extort SGD 60,000 from a married businessman who was secretly recorded having sex with another man in 2019, according to a media report.

Initially, three men, including the businessman's personal assistant were part of this extortion plan. They reduced the amount to SGD 50,000.

But police arrested them before cash could change hands. They were later released on bail.

However, on April 2, 2020, Tan Yong Jian, who was part of the trio, roped in 29-year-old Mahadevan Edwyn, a man of Indian-origin, to be part of the extortion scheme, The Straits Times newspaper reported.

Edwyn, who committed the offence while he was under a remission order, was promised a 50-50 split of the amount negotiated through phone calls from the 53-year-old businessman, according to the report.

“The accused agreed to Yong Jian's plan, as his income was affected by the economic downturn and he needed money to renovate his new flat (apartment unit),” Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Zhou Yang told the court.

In late 2019, the personal assistant secretly installed a camera in the businessman's home, and left the camera in his house for about three weeks, the report stated.

During that time, he managed to record his boss having sex with another man on at least five occasions.

On April 3 last year, Edwyn sent the businessman a text, asking him to hand over SSG 50,000 in cash within 24 hours.

Edwyn also told that videos of him "committing gay acts" would be uploaded on Facebook and other forums if he failed to deliver the cash within the stipulated time.

The businessman initially replied that he did not have the money.

But on April 4 last year, he sent Edwyn another message stating that he needed about a week to raise the SGD 50,000.

Edwyn felt suspicious and got rid of the mobile phone as well as the SIM card he had used to contact the businessman, the report stated.

Edwyn committed the offence while he was under a remission order, just months after he was released from prison in late 2019 over crimes not stated in court documents, the report said.

As part of the order, he was supposed to keep out of trouble from October 9, 2019 to August 28 last year.

For breaching it, he will now have to spend an additional 59 days behind bars, it added. PTI