Indian-origin former policeman jailed for role in house help’s death in Singapore

A Singapore court on Thursday (July 17, 2025) sentenced an Indian-origin person to 10 years imprisonment for his role in the fatal abuse of a 24-year-old house help, who died after months of starvation and physical torture by his ex-wife and mother-in-law.

Kevin Chelvam, 46, a former police officer, was convicted on four charges, including voluntarily causing hurt to Piang Ngaih Don, abetting grievous hurt by starvation, providing false information to the police, and tampering with evidence by dismantling a CCTV recorder from his home.

According to a Channel News Asia report, Don, who hailed from Myanmar, died on July 26, 2016, from brain injuries caused by repeated blunt trauma. Severely malnourished, she weighed just 24 kilograms at the time of her death, it said.

District Judge Teoh Ai Lin noted that Chelvam was her legal employer but did nothing while Don was regularly abused by his then-wife, Gaiyathiri Murugayan, and mother-in-law, Prema S Narayanasamy. Both women are already serving prison sentences of 30 and 17 years, respectively, for their roles in the case.

The court also found that he actively removed the CCTV recorder containing crucial evidence and misled investigators.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sean Teh said the footage recovered from the flat showed Chelvam present during several instances of abuse and accused him of endorsing the denial of food to the victim, which contributed to her inability to survive the beatings.

The court, however, granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal on a fifth charge of using criminal force.