An Indian National in Singapore secretly got married for the second time, and he was busted when visiting his second wife, who gave birth at a hospital where his first wife worked.
Vaithialingam Muthukumar, 49, was caught by his first wife in 2023. He was later caught by the authorities when his second wife reported him to the Ministry of Manpower in 2024.
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In case you are not aware, bigamy is a criminal offence in Singapore, and carries a mandatory jail term not exceeding seven years and a discretionary fine not exceeding SGD10,000 or ~RM32,800.
A man in Singapore ‘kantoi’ after his second wife gave birth at the hospital where his first wife worked
The man pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring to commit bigamy with his second wife, and another of falsely declaring in an application for permanent residence that he did not have any other marriages. A third charge of falsely stating in a visit pass application that he did not have past or other marriages was taken into consideration during sentencing.
Vaithialingam first married his wife in 2007, who is a Singaporean, but the wedding took place in India. He then followed his wife to Singapore in 2011, where he met his second wife in his new job.
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43-year-old Singaporean Salmah Bee Abdul Razak, however, knew that Vaithialingam was already married, but still proceeded with the relationship. The man wanted a child and promised Salmah that he would divorce his first wife, but he never did.
They then entered into a Muslim marriage in August 2022, which was registered by a religious leader in Nagore, India.
Salmah eventually got pregnant with his child and gave birth to a son on September 14, 2023. While visiting her in KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, which happened to be his first wife’s workplace, Vaithialingam was seen by his first wife coming out of a delivery suite, reported Channel News Asia.
She knew that the delivery suite was not open for guest visitation and confronted him. It was then that Vaithialingam came clean about his second marriage and child.
Vaithialingam was sentenced to three months and three weeks’ jail on August 21 for bigamy. The prosecutor also noted that the period of offending was “moderately long”, more than a year before he was caught by chance at the hospital.
