Rakesh Rai s/o Juginthrenat v Muhammad Danial Omar and another

JurisdictionSingapore
JudgeTan May Tee
Judgment Date17 October 2022
Neutral Citation[2022] SGDC 233
CourtDistrict Court (Singapore)
Docket NumberDistrict Court Suit No 368 of 2020
Published date27 October 2022
Year2022
Hearing Date27 September 2021,14 June 2021,15 June 2021,16 June 2021,08 February 2022
Plaintiff CounselUshan Premaratne (instructed counsel) with Lim Joo Toon (Joo Toon LLC)
Defendant CounselPatrick Fernandez (Fernandez LLC)
Subject MatterTort,Defamation,Natural and ordinary meaning,Defences,Justification,Fair comment,Monies had and received,Failure to account,Landlord-tenant,rental arrears
Citation[2022] SGDC 233
District Judge Tan May Tee: Introduction

The plaintiff is the sole proprietor of Phra Pirab Occult Specialist (“PPOS”) which is described as a business selling occult items as well as providing spiritual services, astrology, palmistry and fortune-telling services. The plaintiff describes himself as the in-house master of PPOS specialising in the provision of occult services and is known by his professional name, Aghoreshwar Babaji1. According to the plaintiff, he is well-versed in Thai and Indonesian occult sciences, has more than 18 years of experience in the performance of occult rituals and enjoys a strong reputation in the occult world with more than 47,000 Facebook followers2.

The first defendant was engaged as a shopkeeper to run the plaintiff’s business located at Block 34 Whampoa West #01-33 Singapore 330034 (“the Business Premises”) from 1 July 2013 to 16 July 2018. The plaintiff terminated the first defendant’s engagement when it was discovered that he had allegedly failed to properly account for the sales proceeds of the shop and was suspected of misappropriating funds3.

On 25 and 27 April 2019, the first defendant published three posts on two different Facebook profile pages which carried the titles “Phra Pirab SCAM Specialist” and “Aghori BabaRai” concerning the plaintiff4. While it is not disputed that the Facebook pages have been removed, the plaintiff nonetheless claims that he had been defamed by the first defendant’s publications of 25 and 27 April 20195.

The plaintiff commenced the present action against the first defendant to claim the following: an injunction and damages in respect of the three Facebook posts made on 25 and 27 April 2019; the sum of $13,722 as money had and received by the first defendant to the use of the plaintiff. This was the aggregate sum of the proceeds of sale of various items allegedly received by the first defendant while he was the plaintiff’s shopkeeper which were unaccounted for; and the sum of $48,750 being arrears of rental in respect of the residential quarters at the Business Premises which the first defendant had occupied from October 2015 to 16 July 2018.

The plaintiff had also included in this action, his claim for defamatory Facebook posts made by the second defendant whom he alleges to be a friend of the first defendant. The first defendant, however, denies knowing the second defendant6.

The first defendant has denied all of the plaintiff’s claims against him. He had also initially made a counterclaim against the plaintiff for inter alia unpaid salaries as well as defamation arising from a series of defamatory posts made against him by the plaintiff on various Facebook pages and on another platform called Carousell. The counterclaim was discontinued before trial. As the second defendant failed to enter an appearance to the action, the plaintiff’s action proceeded to trial against the first defendant only.

The plaintiff’s case Defamation

The plaintiff claims that the post (“First Omar Post”) published by the first defendant on 27 April 2019 under the Phra Pirab SCAM Specialist profile (defined in his statement of claim as the “Scam Facebook Profile”) in their natural and ordinary meaning meant that7: the plaintiff is a conman who falsely holds himself out as a guru or master in order to defraud his customers and fund his lavish lifestyle; the plaintiff offers for sale rituals or other occult services which are fake or stolen from others, but passed off as his own, and is thereby guilty of fraud; and the plaintiff is an alcoholic who threatens to curse others with black magic in order to force them to buy him beer.

The entire post comprising text and images spanning eight pages was reproduced and annexed to the statement of claim8. It stated inter alia as follows:

“Dear bros and sis. Pls help to SHARE this biggest amulet SCAM shop in Singapore. What I will say are not baseless and with real evidence. Please help to SHARE.

Calling ALL Singapore Amulet Dealers, Collectors and people who got CHEATED by this very famous CONMAN “BABA” PHRA PIRAB OCCULT SPECIALIST (or Phrapirab THAPRACHAN specialist) shop to come together and share your distasteful experience as well as like and share about this big con shop in Singapore that has been cheating people so so many years.

This is the very same conman master that got slapped and beated up at pearl center toilet by a neighbouring shop because he was running his mouth. This story very famous everyone in the amulet market know.

FIRST, let me expose this FAKE Aghori conman claiming himself to be BABA. Then I will expose all his fake amulet scams one by one for all of you

Aghoreshwar Babaji is NOT a real aghori master. He claim to be aghori and use scare tactics to that people will believe him and feel intimidated by him. He is no other than a delusional drunkard who got exposed for asking a customer at Pearls Center to buy him beer otherwise he will curse them with black magic. Those on amulet forums will know this story is true

Here are all the common scams run by PPOS.

WEALTH TAKRUT / ASURA TAKRUT / VASHIKARAN TAKRUT SCAM.

This is their most famous scam of all. His so called signature “wealth fetching & Gambling takrut” that has so many fake testimonials was in fact not done by him but copied from a online occult website known as Prophet666.com. If you are a real master surely you will learn your own spells from your lineage or have you own book but you copied from GOOGLE? Well done!

https://www.prophet666.com/2011/05/yantra-for-success-in-gambling.html

That is the link to the website that he copied onto a white cloth to sell his takrut for $150. So basically everyone who bought it are merely paying for something that is free online. Real master?

FAKE PLAYBOY TAKRUT. This takrut originally known as yant maha khun paen was first created by AJ Ruang and AJ Lak that came to ppos 8 years ago. During that period they only made limited pc. All the “Playboy” takrut that BABAJI advertised today claiming to be from AJ Ruang are all man made by himself. He just inscribe a Maha Saneh yant on it and claim its yant maha khun paen from AJ Ruang. Selling at $128. Everyone in Amulet Forums know that the original Yant Maha Khun PAen was very hot selling.

This FAKE Aghori Master also made customers pay $300 for a “Kali Kriya” Ritual to “Improve their wealth” where they have to do chanting for a period of days. This can be found for FREE On this website that he copies all his item http://www.prophet666.com/2011/06/most-powerful-wealth-mantra.html

LOVE RITUAL SCAM - BABAJI Claim to help people with love spell and ritual. He charges 600-10k (yeah one china lady even paid 10k) for NOTHING.

This scam was also exposed on AMULET FORUMS. How this scam work is he tell the customer that he can do the ritual, collect money and tell the customer that he needed 1 week to perform the ritual but in fact he did not do anything at all.

So basically this AGHORESHWAR BABAJI from PHRA PIRAB OCCULT SPECIALIST is nothing more then a FAKE master who even went to the extend of asking his cousin to pretend to be a corpse so that he can meditate on it asking his disciple to take picture to advertise as “Shava Sadhana”

Aghoreshwar BABAJI is nothing but a drunkard who will drink with random customers after a few alcohol start to be emotional, cry and moan infront of everyone.

The second post complained of by the plaintiff (identified as the “Second Omar Post”) was published under the Aghori BabaRai Facebook profile (defined in his statement of claim as the “Aghori Facebook Profile”). It comprised a single page of images and text and contained the following words which are said to be defamatory of the plaintiff9:

“NICE FAKE COPY FROM AGHORESHWAR BABAJI

9 PLANET YANTRA WITH WEALTH YANTRA COPIED FROM PROPHET 666.COM

hmm.. don’t tell me in this world theres only 1 yantra for wealth. SELF PROCLAIM AGHORI BABA WITH SO MANY DISCIPLE TO SELL HIS FAKE SCAM SHIT”

The third post complained of by the plaintiff (identified as the “Third Omar Post”) was similarly published by the first defendant under the Aghori Facebook profile. It also comprised a single page of images and text. The words which the plaintiff says are defamatory of him read as follows10:

“Dear bros and sis. Pls help to SHARE this biggest amulet SCAM shop in Singapore. What I will say are not baseless and with real evidence are posted. Please help to SHARE.

Aghoreshwar BABAJI (Rakesh RAI) The BIGGEST CONMAN + THIEF in the amulet business. Owner and self proclaim master of PhraPirab Occult Specialist.

The plaintiff pleads that in their natural and ordinary meanings, the second and third Posts made by the first defendant meant, and were understood to mean, that the plaintiff is a conman and a thief who falsely holds himself out as a guru or spiritual leader and sells fake amulets in order to defraud his customers11.

By reason of the publications of the three Posts, the plaintiff alleges that he has been gravely injured in his character, his personal and professional reputation and has suffered considerable distress, embarrassment and hurt to his feelings. Accordingly, he claims both general and aggravated damages.

Monies had and received

The second head of the plaintiff’s claim is for cash proceeds that the first defendant is alleged to have received from the plaintiff’s customers which he had failed, neglected or refused to account and hand over to the plaintiff. The first defendant’s actions are said to be in breach of the express or implied terms of his engagement as the plaintiff’s shopkeeper at the material time12.

The amounts claimed against the first defendant relate to specific items as described in the statement of claim and calculated by the plaintiff in the total sum of $13,722. The breakdown, particulars of the items13 and the names of the customers14 who had bought the items in...

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