Married S’pore man, 49, secretly gets wed again, found out when 2nd wife gives birth at hospital where 1st wife works

Around four years after marrying a Singaporean woman, a man from India met another Singaporean woman and married in secret again.

Committing bigamy is a criminal offence in Singapore, and carries a mandatory jail term not exceeding seven years and a discretionary fine not exceeding S$10,000.

Vaithialingam Muthukumar, 49, was caught by his first wife in 2023 when his second wife gave birth at the hospital where she worked.

He was later caught by the authorities when the second wife reported him to the Ministry of Manpower in 2024.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiring to commit bigamy with his second wife, and another of falsely declaring in an application for permanent residence that he did not have any other marriages.

A third charge of falsely stating in a visit pass application that he did not have past or other marriages was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Vaithialingam has now been sentenced to three months and three weeks' jail on Aug. 21, reported CNA.

Secret relationship turned marriage

Vaithialingam's first marriage was to a Singaporean woman, now aged 55, which took place in India in 2007.

About four years later in 2011, Vaithialingam came to Singapore and got to know his second wife at work.

The woman, 43-year-old Singaporean Salmah Bee Abdul Razak, and Vaithialingam subsequently began a romantic relationship.

Salmah knew that he was already married at that point.

More than ten years later, the pair conspired to get married, as Vaithialingam wanted to have a child.

He had promised Salmah that he would get a divorce from his first wife after marrying her.

They then entered into a Muslim marriage in August 2022, which was registered by a religious leader in Nagore, India.

The prosecution said this marriage "remains in force and was not dissolved".

Continued staying with first wife

Despite marrying Salmah, Vaithialingam continued staying with his first wife.

Salmah eventually got pregnant with his child and gave birth to a son on Sep. 14, 2023.

While visiting her in KK Women's and Children's Hospital, which happened to be his first wife's workplace, Vaithialingam was seen by the first wife coming out of a delivery suite.

She knew that the delivery suite was not open for guest visitation and confronted him.

It was then that Vaithialingam came clean about his second marriage and child.

First wife sponsored PR application

On Jun. 12, 2024, Vaithialingam submitted an application to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) seeking permanent resident status as the spouse of a Singapore citizen.

His first wife served as the local sponsor for the application.

In the submission, Vaithialingam falsely declared that he had no other marriages, including customary ones.

ICA rejected his application in October 2024.

Second wife reported him

In July 2024, Salmah reported Vaithialingam to the Ministry of Manpower, saying that she was married to him while he was still married to another woman.

As Vaithialingam had been issued a long-term visit pass sponsored by his first wife, the case was referred to ICA.

It was then referred to the police for investigations into the bigamy offence.

Deceived both wives

The prosecution sought two to three months' jail for the bigamy offence, pointing out that the man deceived both of his wives.

He kept his second marriage a secret from his first wife, while also falsely promising Salmah that he would divorce his first wife.

The prosecutor also noted that the period of offending was "moderately long", about more than a year before he was caught by chance at the hospital.

The case was “fortuitously” uncovered due to the false statements he made in his applications to the ICA, the prosecutor said.

Vaithialingam’s bigamous marriage remained intact at the time of his guilty plea, more than three years after he married Salmah.

Top photo from Canva