In an ugly incident in April 2012, Adesh Goel got into a drunken altercation with another patron after a big night at the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) casino.
Security personnel reacted promptly to separate the 2 patrons, opting to secure Adesh in a small room to the side of the high rollers' floor - where the casino's biggest players duke it out in high stakes games. As a precaution, they surrounded him with security guards.
But this is where the story diverges.
According to Adesh, who is now suing RWS for an upwards of $1 millions dollars in compensation, for losses he suffered and exemplary damages.
He accused RWS of conducting itself "with a haughty and high-handed attitude during and after the incident", saying that the casino remains "totally unapologetic, defiant and obstructive in the face of the fact that [he] suffered serious personal injuries, pain and suffering as a direct consequence of the entirely unjustified and disproportionate actions."
Adesh says that on the night of the dispute, he had been granted access to a VIP lounge on 22nd April, but had gotten into a quarrel with another patron at about 4.30AM. By 4.55AM, he was separated from the other patron and asked to go to a private room.
There, he says, 2 Sentosa seucirty staff locked him in the room and refused him access to the gaming manager. 3 other security personnel who looked like police officers arrived, and Adesh asked to leave but was refused.
Adesh decided to make a police report claiming that he was being unlawfully detained and assaulted, and tried to leave the room to record the names of the security guards holding him "hostage". The struggle turned violent as security guards forcefully pinned him to the wall and confiscated his phone, forcing him to sit down on a chair.
In a panic, Adesh tried to barricade himself in the room with chairs and got into further altercations with security personnel. By 6AM, he had allegedly sustained a broken collarbone and left the casino escorted by a convoy of police officers.
In response to Adesh's accusations, Genting disputed his allegations and launched a counter-suit against Adesh. According to Genting's lawyers, Adesh behaved aggressively and security personnel followed protocol to stop him from leaving the room because he was agitated and posed a risk to other patrons.
Genting also added that Goel's injuries were not a result of the struggle and may have been already present at the time of the incident or caused by "unruly behavior in the side room".
In the course of the trial, Adesh's lawyers have also leveled accusations against the Singapore Police Force, arguing that the police have withheld police and investigation reports from them pertaining to the night of the dispute, and had closed the case prematurely without conducting proper investigations.
Goel says that when he first made his call, he had spoken to a police officer for over 3 minutes, and what he said should have been recorded into a police report. Instead, his lawyers received a police report which only contained one line, "I had been assaulted by the security here", it read.
His lawyers also asked why police investigations were discontinued in circumstances where Goel had not even been interviewed, and accused "certain quarters within the Singapore Police Force" of acting in concert" with RWS to "suppress information of wrongdoings committed by the staff."
The Deputy Public Prosecutor for the Singapore Attorney-General Office has shot down Goel's lawyers accusations, saying that the letter's "tone and contents" were unwarranted and that all the requested police documents had been handed over as requested.
The case is ongoing.
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