Uuniversity of the South Pacific (USP) lecturer Dr Anirudh Singh told of his 11 hours of torture at the Colo-i-Suva jungle after four men abducted him from outside his Rewa St home at 9am on October 24, 1990.
On Thursday, October 25, The Fiji Times published an article of Dr Singh’s torture which was systematical.
Dr Singh was admitted to the Colonial War Memorial Hospital with multiple injuries.
Dr Singh had been tortured and questioned about the burning of a copy of a new Constitution at a Suva temple on Diwali before being left to find his way home.
The men had tied his hands and feet and then tied his head to his feet before repeatedly punching him on his face and chest.
The article reported the four men had held his hands and fingers against a tree root and battered them with a steel pipe.
A bruised and battered Dr Singh arrived unexpectedly at home at 9pm in a taxi and was immediately taken to the hospital.
Dr Singh told this newspaper at the hospital that night that he had left home just after 9am for work.
“I had walked about three to four chains when I saw two men walking towards me. They looked suspicious but I didn’t pay much attention,” he said.
“Then suddenly, one of them hit me and then the other. I fell down.”
A car sped up to where they were and the two tried to push him into the car.
“I struggled and tried to make as much noise as possible but they managed to drag me into the car. They lay me flat across the rear seat, one of them held my face and neck while another sat on my legs.”
He was driven around in the car for about half-an-hour.
“When we reached our destination, I had no idea where I was,” he said.
Dr Singh said he was beaten in three spells before one of the men went away.
“The two others then went to sleep, gathering from their snoring. The two woke up about 6pm and started hitting me on my eyes and face. They then held my hands against a root and smashed my hands repeatedly with a steel pipe. After some time, they lifted my balaclava and told me I was free and could leave.”
The men also chopped off his hair and burned strands with cigarettes.
The men left after telling Dr Singh he was free to go.
He followed their footsteps, found a road and managed to stop a taxi.
The driver picked him about 8pm and dropped him home.
According to neighbours, Dr Singh had been taken in a brown Mazda 1600 station wagon.
A neighbour had earlier reported the car’s registration number – D8654 – to the Raiwaqa Police Station about 8am after he had seen it act in a suspicious manner from early morning.
According to the report, the vehicle’s registration expired on April 16, 1988.
It was last registered under the name of Orisi Rabukawaqa.
Earlier, Dr Singh’s brother, Anil told this newspaper a demonstrator from USP had called him about 11am to find out why Dr Singh had not turned up for work.
Anil said Dr Singh had not missed a class since he arrived from England in July to take up the position of lecturer in Physics at the USP.
Mr Singh then called the Criminal Investigations Department headquarters at Vanua House in Suva to enquire if Dr Singh had been taken in by police for further questioning.
Dr Singh had been questioned earlier that week over the burning of the Constitution at the temple. He was told that Dr Singh was not there.
“After that, I was flooded with calls from USP with people telling me that Anirudh had been abducted,” Anil said.
A shocked Anil was then contacted by Raiwaqa police who told him they were investigating the abduction.
Anil said police told him they had received a report of a vehicle being driven up and down Rewa St in a suspicious manner about 8am.
They were about to investigate the report when they received the second call telling them the same car had been involved in the abduction.
Anil claimed police had questioned neighbours and had traced the car to the
army camp.
He said the Raiwaqa Police Station inspector who had led the investigation had sent two policemen to the camp to check on the car when a call was received from police headquarters saying they would take over the case.
