Former bak kut teh restaurant employee steals over $34,000 in gold jewellery from ex-colleagues, jailed 8 months
A former employee of a bak kut teh restaurant was sentenced to eight months’ jail on Nov 10 after breaking into a former workplace dormitory and stealing gold jewellery worth a total of $34,897 from two ex-colleagues.
The 38-year-old Malaysian national, Deva Seelan Sati Veloo, faced one charge of housebreaking, one charge of criminal trespass, and two charges of theft. He pleaded guilty to two charges, with the remaining charges taken into consideration for sentencing.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the two victims were employees of Outram Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh at the time of the offences. They lived in a unit at Block 107 Spottiswoode Park Road, which the restaurant had rented as staff accommodation.
Deva was a former employee who had previously resided in the same unit. He reportedly moved out of the unit after resigning in December 2024.
At around 3pm on March 28, 2026, one of the victims returned home and discovered that the padlock on the metal gate was missing.
He also found that the following items had been stolen from his room:
- A gold bracelet valued at $12,311.32
- A gold bracelet valued at $7,911
- A gold ring valued at $862
The three items amounted to $21,084.
He then called his colleague and roommate, who rushed back to the unit and discovered that a gold necklace worth RM44,040 (S$13,813 based on the exchange rate at the time) was also missing from his room.
A police report was lodged at 4.11pm.
Offender spotted at block over an hour before victim returned home
Police surveillance footage showed Deva taking a lift up from the ground floor of the block at 1.43pm before exiting the lift at the ground floor at 2pm.
Investigations revealed that Deva entered the unit without lawful authority and stole the victims’ belongings during this time.
Deva was also found to have taken a ferry from Singapore Cruise Centre to Batam at 2.43pm that day.
Police subsequently identified him as a suspect and issued a warrant for his arrest. He was arrested on April 24 after returning to Singapore from Batam.
The stolen jewellery was not recovered, and Deva has not made any restitution.
Restaurant owner thought offender unlikely to return to Singapore
Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh owner Lin Fu Lai (transliterated) told Shin Min that he did not think Deva would return to Singapore to work again.
He said he had not attended the court hearing that morning and was unaware that Deva had been sentenced.
“The affected employees probably won’t forgive him. This was money they had worked so hard to save,” he said.
The judge did not order Deva to compensate the two victims when sentencing him that morning.
Both victims, who were present in court, were informed that they could pursue compensation through other means, such as civil lawsuits.
One of the victims, Liu Kai Xin (transliterated), 26, previously told Shin Min that he had filed the police report after discovering the items were missing.
“There were no signs of the rooms having been ransacked. It was only when the police asked if we suspected someone we knew that we thought it might have been Deva.”
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