Singapore: Indian man's secret second marriage exposed after first wife spots him at delivery ward of hospital where she worked

An Indian man has been sentenced in Singapore for committing bigamy after marrying his second wife while keeping his first wife in the dark. His secret was exposed when his first wife saw him leaving the maternity ward of the hospital where she works. The man was there with his second wife, who had just given birth to a baby boy. Vaithialingam Muthukumar, a 49-year-old Indian national, was sentenced to three months and three weeks in jail on Thursday, SCMP reported. He had started an affair with his second wife after coming to Singapore to join his first wife in 2011. The woman was a Singaporean citizen named Salmah Bee Abdul Razak, who married Muthukumar, fully aware that he was already married. Muthukumar and his first wife, a Singaporean woman now aged 55, tied the knot in India in 2007. He pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring to commit bigamy, falsely declaring in an application for permanent residence that he did not have any other marriages, and falsely stating in a visit pass application that he did not have past or other marriages. Also Read: Indian passport gets a boost! Jumps 8 places in Henley Passport Index 2025—Know what it ranks?

In June 2022, Vaithialingam and Salmah decided to take the next step and get married. He told her that he wanted to have a child and promised her that he would get a divorce. They had a Muslim marriage in August 2022, which was registered by a religious leader in Nagore, India. After they returned to Singapore, Vaithialingam continued to live with his first wife and used to visit Salmah. On September 14, 2023, she gave birth to a son at the KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, which is where his first wife worked. She saw him leaving the hospital’s delivery suite and confronted him, and learnt of his secret marriage.

He then applied for permanent resident status as the spouse of a Singapore citizen on June 12, 2024. He falsely declared in the form that he had no other marriages. In July, Salmah told the Ministry of Manpower that he was married to her and his first wife. His application was rejected in October. His case reached the police for a bigamy offence. The deputy public prosecutor sought two to three months' jail for Vaithialingam. He told the court that he deccived both the women. The first one found out "purely by chance" about his second marriage, and falsely promised the second that he would get a divorce.