Ramesh Erramalli given 'stern warning' for harassing Whampoa condo security guard: police
SINGAPORE — Ramesh Erramalli, the condominium resident seen verbally abusing a security guard in a viral video last October, has been warned by the police over his behaviour.
In a statement on Friday (17 January), the police said that a “stern warning” had been issued to the 44-year-old, in consultation with the Attorney-General’s Chambers, for intentionally causing harassment to a security officer who was deployed at Eight Riversuites Condominium.
A similar warning was also given to two men, aged 41 and 47, for causing intentional harassment to Erramalli. The police have also administered a 12-month conditional warning to two other men, aged 19 and 56, who threatened Erramalli and his family with death and violence.
“Although Mr Erramalli had expressed his wish to Police not to pursue the matter, the Police had nevertheless initiated investigations into this, as a few of the messages threatened Mr Erramalli and his family with death and violence (even rape),” said the police.
‘I buy the f**king property for $1.5 million’
On 26 October last year, Erramalli was caught on camera hurling vulgarities at security officer Steven Heng. In a video that quickly went viral, he is seen quarrelling with security officers after they tell him that his guests have to pay a parking fee.
“I buy the f**king property for $1.5 million, you know... Tell the management f**k off... We are not staying in an HDB,” Ramesh shouts at Steven, telling him that his guests were visiting him for Deepavali. The security officers can be heard trying to calm down the resident and telling him that they are enforcing the rules.
The outcry over the incident led to even Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam weighed in, calling the resident’s behaviour an example of “a sense of entitlement”.
Financial services company JP Morgan, Erramalli’s employer, also issued a memo to its staff over the incident, reminding them to have “respect and dignity for others”.
Five days after the incident, in a meeting arranged by Security Association of Singapore president Raj Joshua Thomas, Erramalli apologised to Heng in person.
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