On 10 May 2020, 38-year-old assistant manager Tay Rui Hao (郑锐豪 Zhèng Ruìháo) was attacked by another person while he was jogging in the night along Punggol Field. Tay, who sustained multiple stab wounds, was able to call the ambulance, but he died at Sengkang General Hospital after reaching there. The police investigations led to the arrest of 20-year-old Surajsrikan Diwakar Mani Tripathi. Surajsrikan was charged with murder a week after killing Tay, and the motive of his crime was supposedly due to the negative emotions he harboured over his father abandoning his family 21 years before on the same date he killed Tay.
Although Surajsrikan was assessed to have borderline intelligence, a mathematical learning disability, severe social anxiety disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, the latter two disorders which may have contributed to a tendency to have low moods and anger, Surajsrikan's condition was considered not severe enough to serve as an abnormality of the mind and he was mentally fit to stand trial. Following a guilty plea, Surajsrikan was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane. The case of Tay's killing had also prompted the government to pass laws to facilitate the collection of TraceTogether data for the purpose of police investigations in serious crimes, including murder.
Case and investigations
Death of Tay Rui Hao
On 10 May 2020, the hospital authorities received a call from a man that he was attacked and stabbed at Punggol Field. The man, who sustained a total of ten injuries (including six knife wounds), was helped by a resident living in one of the nearby flats, and he was subsequently rushed to Sengkang General Hospital, but the man succumbed to his grievous injuries and died at the hospital. The cause of his death were two fatal knife wounds, consisting of one chest wound that collapsed his right lung and a knife wound that cut through the radial artery on his right forearm.
The man was identified as 38-year-old Tay Rui Hao, an assistant manager of a sportswear store. Tay was described as an easygoing and talkative person, and he was also a good son, brother and husband to his parents, sister and wife, as well as a good mentor and colleague at his workplace. He was reported to have started jogging two to three times a week since the COVID-19 circuit breaker lockdown in April until his death in May. Tay's father stated that the family was shocked to hear about his stabbing and they arrived too late to see him one last time before his death. Tay's father said that the last time he heard from his son was earlier in the day when Tay told him he wanted to jog after feeling cooped up at home due to the lockdown, hours before his murder. He described his son's death as an injustice and sought the assistance of the public to catch the perpetrator of his son's killing. Sun Xueling, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, appealed to the public through Facebook for information relating to the case and reassured residents in midst of the public's shock over the case.
Capture of the suspect
The police investigations began after taking over the case of Tay Rui Hao's death. They managed to discover a possible suspect after monitoring the police CCTV cameras of the nearby areas around the crime scene, where a man was shown wandering around the neighbourhood with a knife. The suspect, who was identified as 20-year-old Surajsrikan Diwakar Mani Tripathi (who was unemployed), was arrested four days later on 16 May 2020. He was charged with murder a day later, and as murder warrants the death penalty, Surajsrikan faced the possibility of execution if found guilty in accordance with Singapore law. Both Surajsrikan and Tay were not known to each other despite both being residents in Punggol.
The police managed to find the DNA and blood of Tay located on the knife despite it being cleaned by Surajsrikan after the crime. His shoes were also taken for DNA swab testing, and Tay's DNA was also found on the shoe. This discovery further cemented Surajsrikan's status as a suspect. Soon after he was charged, Surajsrikan was ordered to undergo a three-week psychiatric evaluation to assess if he was fit to stand trial, and he was also brought back to the crime scene to assist in investigations and re-enact the crime.