[SINGAPORE] Former lawyer Ravi Madasamy, better known as M Ravi, died in hospital after he was found unconscious in the early hours of Wednesday (Dec 24).
Police said a 56-year-old man had been admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital at 6.50am on Dec 24.
The man, who was unconscious, was subsequently pronounced dead.
“Based on preliminary investigations, the police do not suspect foul play. Police investigations are ongoing,” said the police.
Responding to media queries, the Singapore Police Force said the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) received a call at 5.41am the same day to attend to an urgent case.
“The person who needed assistance was 56-year-old M. Ravi. He was admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital unconscious, where he was subsequently pronounced dead,” the police said.
Police later said former lawyer M. Ravi had consumed drugs with a friend before he was found unconscious at home.
Police said another person was at the apartment when SCDF arrived. He was the one who called for help.
Police added that the friend said “he and M. Ravi had taken drugs a few hours earlier, and M. Ravi exhibited concerning symptoms after he took the drugs”.
The friend, who admitted that the drugs belonged to him, said he had administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation to Mr Ravi.
He has been arrested by the Central Narcotics Bureau for suspected drug-related offences under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, who had previously represented Ravi in court, said that he and Ravi were friends. He added that he was deeply saddened by the news of his death.
“He has had his struggles but was always true to the cause he fought with all his heart. The cases he argued have helped shape constitutional law in Singapore.
“He has contributed to and will be missed by the legal profession,” said Thuraisingam.
Withers KhattarWong criminal lawyer Shashi Nathan said that Ravi was a good man who had contributed to the law.
“Ravi was often divisive and went against the grain. But deep down, I always sensed he had a good heart and wanted the best for his clients.
“He was fearless in his advocacy and would often push the envelope,” said Nathan.
Ravi told reporters in 2005 that his father, who died in 2003, was an alcoholic who was in and out of jail most of his life.
His mother worked as a construction labourer to support the family. She died in 2000, aged 59.
Ravi, who was one of seven children in his family, studied law in Britain after graduating from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1993. He started practising in 1997.
He had been a strong opponent of Section 377A, the law criminalising sex between men, arguing that it was discriminatory.
In 2020, he argued that it was “absurd and arbitrary” to allow the law to remain on Singapore’s statutes, given that the Government’s official policy position was non-enforcement in respect of consensual homosexual acts in private between men.
The decades-old law was later repealed in Parliament in 2022. Ravi also helped to overturn a 2018 decision that saved his client, Malaysian national Gobi Avedian, from the death penalty.
Gobi was charged with the importation of 40.22g of heroin after he was caught with the drugs at Woodlands Checkpoint on Dec 11, 2014.
He was originally sentenced to 15 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane in 2017.
However, the prosecution won the case on appeal, leaving Gobi to face capital punishment.
Ravi filed an application for the court to review its decision in February 2020, and managed to overturn the death sentence, with Gobi being handed his original sentence of 15 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane.
Invictus Law’s Josephus Tan told The Straits Times: “You can love him or hate him for all his controversies but you cannot deny his contributions to the jurisprudence of criminal and constitutional laws in Singapore.”
“I’ve known Mr Ravi (since) before I started practice and he’s a good friend who would be dearly missed,” he added.
Ravi, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2006, was a controversial figure in the law fraternity, with one court previously noting that the suspended lawyer was no stranger to disciplinary proceedings.
Past incidents of improper conduct have included making baseless allegations with respect to key legal institutions and being disruptive in the courtroom, as well as improper handling of clients.
Over the past two decades, he has been handed sanctions ranging from monetary penalties to suspensions from practice on two occasions.
Ravi was in 2024 struck off the rolls by the Court of Three Judges over two separate matters.
The first instance was after he made “false and unwarranted attacks” on his Facebook page in August 2020 against then President Halimah Yacob, as well as then Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and former prime minister Goh Chok Tong.
Separately, Mr Ravi had continually interrupted a High Court judge in November 2021, accusing the judge of being biased and falsely claiming that his client wanted to drop the suit – at the time, he was representing a former SBS Transit bus driver who had sued the transport operator.
Ravi had won international acclaim in 2023, when he was recognised for his work on human rights issues by the International Bar Association, picking up the Award for Outstanding Contribution by a Legal Practitioner to Human Rights.
In his acceptance speech then, he said that the award came at a time when he was facing many challenges in Singapore.
He was then serving a five-year suspension – the maximum under the law – for making “baseless and grave” allegations against the Attorney-General’s Chambers and the Law Society.
This arose from comments he had made to socio-political website The Online Citizen, and comments he posted on Facebook after the Court of Appeal had reversed his client’s death sentence in 2020.
Ravi also had a long association with party politics and contested the 2015 General Election under the Reform Party banner.
He ran in Ang Mo Kio GRC against Senior Minister Lee and lost, receiving 21.36 per cent of the vote.THE STRAITS TIMES
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