Singapore hangs Raman Selvam Renganathan for storing 2.7 kg of cannabis
Raman Selvam Renganathan, 39, was hanged in Changi Prison on 16 July 2004 after being convicted of storing 2.7 kilograms of cannabis in his flat. A co-accused who named him as the mastermind was reported to have received 20 years in prison and 24 strokes of the cane.
Raman Selvam Renganathan, 39, was hanged in Changi Prison after being convicted of storing 2.7 kilograms of marijuana in his apartment.[1]Singapore’s execution list dates the hanging to 16 July 2004 and gives the quantity as 2.7 kg of cannabis.[2]He had been found guilty of drug trafficking after an eight-day trial the previous September.[1]
Under Singapore law anyone holding more than about a pound of marijuana is presumed to be a trafficker, and death by hanging is the only penalty for trafficking.[1]The case involved a second man, Dhanabalan Gopalkrishnan, 33, who named Renganathan as the mastermind and was reported to have received 20 years in prison and 24 strokes of the cane instead of a death sentence.[1]
In January 2004 Amnesty International reported that Singapore had hanged 408 people since 1991, 252 of them for drug offences, and criticised the presumptions of guilt and the mandatory death sentence in the Misuse of Drugs Act.[1]Singapore members of parliament defended the policy as protecting Singaporeans from drugs.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The Drug War Chronicle piece published on 23 July 2004 says the execution happened on a Monday, while the execution list citing the Straits Times of 20 July 2004 dates the hanging to Friday 16 July 2004, which this report uses.
The Straits Times original of 20 July 2004 could not be opened, so the date rests on the execution list's citation of it.
The Drug War Chronicle's wording on the co-accused's sentence is garbled, so it is unclear whether the reported 20 years and 24 strokes were final.
No photograph of the event with a recoverable direct image address was found in the opened sources.
Omar bin Yacob Bamadhaj, 46, was executed for importing 1,009 grams of cannabis. The court found he had only carried the drugs, but Singapore's law left the judge no sentence other than death.
Muhammad Faizal bin Mohd Shariff, 36, was hanged at dawn on 17 May 2023 for possessing 1,562.97 grams of cannabis for trafficking, found in a Pasir Ris condominium after his landlady handed a bag to security. The Court of Appeal dismissed a last-minute review bid the day before.
Tangaraju s/o Suppiah, 46, was hanged at dawn on 26 April 2023 for abetting the trafficking of 1,017.9 grams of cannabis in 2013. He was not caught with the drugs; the court relied on phone evidence that he had coordinated the delivery.
Fazali bin Mohamed was hanged on 26 July 2022 for trafficking at least 1,838.8 grams of cannabis and 2,775.34 grams of cannabis mixture found in his flat at Block 55 Sims Drive in March 2015. Authorities did not name him publicly when announcing the execution.
