Findings on Indian-origin cop's bias claims to be submitted to Singapore minister: Police

Singapore, July 25 (IANS) Following the death of an Indian-origin cop in Singapore, police will be reviewing his allegations of workplace discrimination again and refer their findings to the Attorney-General’s Chambers for an independent review.

The police action comes after Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam asked the Singapore Police Force (SPF) to investigate workplace bullying claims made by Sergeant Uvaraja Gopal who died last week.

The findings will also be submitted to Shanmugam for his decision on whether the findings should be further reviewed, SPF said in a statement.

Gopal, 36, who was found lying motionless at the foot of a residential block in Yishun, had more than 10 years in service, and was last an officer with Ang Mo Kio Police Division.

Before dying, Gopal had said in a Facebook post, now unavailable, that he was bullied at the workplace by his superiors and racially abused by his team members.

He claimed that he had sought help but did not receive any.

"All of these had been investigated and dealt with. Some of them are being investigated again, in the light of the allegations which he had made just prior to his passing away," the SPF said in a statement expressing condolences and thanking Gopal's family for his service.

Police said they found the allegations of racial discrimination made by Gopal in 2015 "unsubstantiated".

From SPF’s perspective, Gopal's superiors had assessed that he was facing "substantial challenges at work", and was helped in a number of ways by his superiors.

He was provided coaching to address his performance issues, given transfers, at his request, to six different work units in nine years, and granted additional leave, since 2015, (at his request), beyond his usual leave entitlements of vacation leave, casual leave, and ordinary sick leave.

Counselling and psychological assistance were also arranged for Gopal at various points in his service from 2016 onwards, police said, adding that most recently in January 2023, he was assigned a para-counsellor after he reported experiencing work stress.

According to the SPF statement, upon his request, he reported to a new unit in February this year and showed signs of being unstable, and due to safety concerns, was relieved from carrying firearms from February 16.

As regards to complaints he made about misconduct of fellow officers, police said disciplinary action was taken after Gopal alerted his supervisors in 2023 that he had spotted fellow officers smoking.

Police interviews also showed that the late sergeant had had tensions with his family.

Gopal's mother had lodged a police report against him, saying she feared for her safety on July 14, which was followed by a call for police assistance later in the day by his sister-in-law, the police said.

"The police will review and investigate again these allegations, and refer the findings to the Attorney-General's Chambers," the SPF statement said, adding that further updates will be provided in due course.