Court of Appeals (Photo courtesy of CA Facebook)
MANILA – The Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the conviction of an Indian national who kidnapped and detained a fellow expatriate recruited to work for a lending business in the Philippines.
In a 22-page decision dated March 4 and written by Associate Justice Fernanda Lampas Peralta, the CA Special Second Division upheld the Las Piñas City Regional Trial Court (Branch 255) decision convicting Gurinder Pal Singh for serious illegal detention and sentencing him to reclusion perpetua.
The victim, Sandhu Jag Jiwan Singh, was recruited by Gurjadwinder Singh Sandhu, to work in the Philippines for a monthly salary of PHP50,000.
He arrived in the Philippines on June 6, 2011 and was met at the airport by the suspect, Baldev Singh, Surinder Pal Singh, and Joginder Singh.
They took him to accused Sandhu's house in Sta. Maria Subdivision, Bataan, where he was kept while working without pay for the accused's money collection business.
The victim claimed that his fellow Indians would beat him up and threatened they would kill him if he stopped working.
On April 18, 2014, the victim was taken by Sandhu to a room, blindfolded and struck in the head. They then boarded a vehicle which traveled for around five hours.
When the victim got a chance to remove his blindfold, he saw inside the vehicle the accused-appellant, Sandhu, Baldev Singh and Surinder.
When the vehicle stopped, the victim got an opportunity to escape, ran, hailed a taxi and told the driver to bring him to Paco, Manila.
He then sought the help of Majinder Kumar, president of Kalsadiwan Inc. Indian Sikh Temple.
Gurinder denied the charges and claimed he was in Legazpi City, Albay at the time the crime was committed. He denied ever meeting the complainant or having been in Bataan and Las Piñas.
"Verily, private complainant's positive identification of his captors, accused-appellant and co-accused Gurjadwinder Singh and Baldev Singh, must prevail over accused-appellant's lame denial and alibi," the CA ruled.
The two other co-accused remained at-large.
Associate Justices Myra V. Garcia-Fernandez and Zenaida T. Galapate-Laguiles concurred with the ruling. (PNA)
