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Second man jailed over robbery of jewellery wholesaler

(PHOTO: Getty Images)
(PHOTO: Getty Images)

A man who hit a jewellery wholesaler with a wooden stick while an accomplice robbed the victim of nearly $43,000 in cash and jewellery was on Wednesday (22 November) jailed for his role in the crime.

Singaporean Srinath Bari, 53, was jailed four years after pleading guilty to one count of robbery and two counts of failing to report for a urine test. An additional 20 weeks’ jail was given to him in lieu of caning, which he is ineligible for given his age.

Another charge of failing to report for a urine test was taken into consideration for his sentencing.

Srinath, an odd-job worker, was one of three men who participated in the robbery of jewellery wholesaler Yelchur Sreenivas, 51, on 25 May last year.

The scheme’s mastermind, 48-year-old Venkatachalapathy Raman, has since been sentenced to four years and three months’ jail, along with 12 strokes of the cane. A third member of the group and alleged lookout, 36-year-old Hassan, is expected to claim trial in the case.

According to the prosecution, Venkatachalapathy had identified Yelchur as a potential robbery target as he knew that the latter was in the jewellery business. He enlisted the help of Srinath and Hassan for the robbery.

At midnight on 25 May last year, Yelchur was carrying his haversack as he headed home from a coffeeshop on St George’s Road. While he was walking along a footpath near Towner Road, Yelchur felt a tugging sensation on his haversack. He turned to find Venkatachalapathy pulling on the bag.

Yelchur held onto his bag, which led Venkatachalapathy to shove the victim to the ground. Venkatachalapathy continued trying to wrestle the bag away from Yelchur but failed to do so.

Venkatachalapathy then fled after failing to get hold of the bag. Yelchur got back on his feet but was then attacked by Srinath, who was armed with a wooden stick. Srinath hit Yelchur three to four times from the back while Venkatachalapathy returned to grab the haversack.

The two robbers then fled with the haversack, which contained loose diamonds, gold studs and sapphires worth some $31,980. Apart from the jewellery, the bag also contained $6,617.40 in cash, four 18 karat gold pens valued at $4,000, and a POSB ATM card.

Yelchur filed a police report about half an hour after the incident and visited Tan Tock Seng Hospital for treatment. He was found to have sustained abrasions and bruises on his upper back, chest and arms.

Srinath was arrested on 17 August last year while Venkatachalapathy was arrested on 26 May this year at an industrial building in the Balestier Road area. Hassan was arrested on 11 May this year.

All the misappropriated items, except for $6,600 in cash, have since been recovered. No restitution of the stolen cash has been made.

Srinath’s pro-bono lawyer, Subir Singh Grewal, said that his client played only a supporting role in the crime.

For robbery, Srinath could have been jailed between 3 and 14 years, and given a minimum of 12 strokes of the cane. For failing to report for a urine test, he could have been jailed four years and fined $10,000 on each charge.

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