and drove Tan's car to Mandai, burning it together with Tan's corpse. Despite the charred remains, Tan's identity was ascertained, as well as the cause of death: Professor Chao Tzee Cheng identified that the cause of Tan's death was a cut artery on his neck (possibly by an axe or any other weapon) and that he did not die in the fire. He said that there were little amount of soot particles found in the lungs, which meant that he was already dead by the time the two men set fire on him Maniam, who was eventually arrested and charged in January 1993, claimed at the trial that on the night of Tan's murder, while the three of them were arguing violently over a failed deal to purchase gold, Asokan became so agitated that he picked up an axe which Maniam bought the day before to kill Tan, and it was Asokan's idea to burn the corpse, proclaiming his innocence and he himself was forced to help dispose the corpse out of fear. However, Asokan, who was arrested in Malaysia and got extradited back to Singapore to face trial, stated that Maniam told him to grab the axe and kill Tan when he refused to pay the commission, saying that he did not mean to hit or kill him, and that he was only following Maniam's orders. However, the judge rejected their defences and stated that if they had no intention to kill, the weapons would not have been brought in the first place, and decided that they both shared a common intention to murder Tan, therefore both of the men were convicted as charged and sentenced to death. The two men were eventually hanged on 8 September 1995. The Bulgarian murder A Bulgarian student, 26-year-old Iordanka Apostolova, was involved in an argument with 22-year-old Shaiful Edham Adam at a housing unit in Depot Road. Using a parang, Shaiful chopped Ms Apostolova's throat with a parang together with the help of his friend, 26-year-old Norishyam Mohamed Ali who held down the victim. Shaiful's wife, Hezlinda A Rahman together with the two of them help to dispose her body at a canal near Tenah Merah Ferry Road. Her body was discovered on 13 January, which led to the arrest of Shaiful and Hezlinda. Norishyam surrendered to the police shortly after. Professor Chao Tzee Cheng, in his autopsy, found that there were