SEREMBAN: Five men were charged at the Magistrate's Court, here, today, for allegedly preventing a police officer from carrying out his duty during the Rantau by-election last April.
S Vigane Swaren, 52; S Mangaswaran, 37; S Sivakumar, 37; M Arun, 25, and A Yeohvan Louis, 25, pleaded not guilty after the charge was read before Magistrate V Vanita.
According to the charge, the accused had allegedly prevented Sergeant Yusof Md Medak from conducting his duty by demanding to inspect the bonnet of a police multi-purpose vehicle (MPV).
The offence was conducted in front of Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Chung Hua at 6pm on April 13.
Subsequently, the accused were charged under Section 186 of the Penal Code which is read together with Section 34 of the same Code and if convicted, the accused could face imprisonment of up to two months or fine up to RM10,000 or both.
Under the alternative charge, the accused were charged with preventing Sergeant Yusof from carrying out a ballot box at the same location, time and date.
Therefore, the accused were charged under Section 341 of the Penal Code and read together with Section 34 of the same Code, and if convicted they could be jailed for a month or a fine of RM1,000 or both.
Prosecution was conducted by Deputy Public Prosecutor Hazeelia Muhammad.
Three accused, Vigane Swaren, Mangaswaran and Sivakumar were represented by lawyer Haresh Mahadevan, while Arun and Yeohvan Louis were represented by V K Indran.
The court the set bail of RM2,000 for each accused and set July 31 for remention.