Singapore Eatery Owner Dies A Day After Accusing Indian Worker Of Faking Workplace Injury For Money

A woman in Singapore died mysteriously on Saturday, a day after making accusations against one of her Indian employees. Jane Lee, the owner of an eatery called Sumo Salad, claimed on Facebook before her death that one of her workers faked an injury to seek compensation, Channel News Asia reported on Monday.

She alleged that the worker, identified as Sran Kiranjeet Kaur from India, staged an accident to claim compensation. Lee made two detailed posts on Facebook on Friday, accusing Kaur of trying to cheat the system. The businesswoman, in her 40s and a mother of two, died the next day.

Her death is being investigated by the Singapore Police Force as a case of "unnatural death." The exact cause of her death is still unknown.

"I never imagined that someone could act with such deceit simply for the sake of money. "Ms. Sran Kiranjeet Kaur, a worker from India, approached me seeking employment. Just two days before her contract ended, she staged an incident-claiming to have slipped and fallen while taking the escalator to dispose of rubbish. On that day, she was supposed to leave work early, but she deliberately stayed back. It became clear to me that the accident was premeditated, likely as an attempt to file a false work injury claim," Lee wrote in one of the posts last Thursday.

According to Lee, Kaur had planned the alleged fake injury with her husband, who is also from India. She said that they were involved with a legal firm that allegedly coaches people on exploiting injury claims.

"I have video footage on my phone that contradicts her claim of injury. I have personally witnessed her moving around normally: cooking, walking, and functioning without difficulty. However, her behaviour changes dramatically in the presence of others, especially doctors," Lee said.

She also claimed that their strategy was to target small businesses. According to Lee, if a business lacked proper insurance, they would try to threaten them and extort money directly from the owner.

"If the business is insured, they aim for higher payouts by encouraging more serious injury claims, fabricating permanent disabilities so as to receive a big lump sum from the Insurance company," she added.

Lee concluded the post by saying she felt extremely unfortunate to have encountered the situation.

"Because of an unfortunate gap in our insurance coverage, we are now being targeted by what I believe to be a fraudulent scheme," she wrote.

In a separate post, Lee appealed to the Singapore Ministry of Manpower and the police to investigate the case thoroughly.

On the incident, Singaporean Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash confirmed that they are investigating the alleged fraud claim flagged by Lee, The Straits Times reported on Thursday.