A Singapore court has sentenced an Indian-origin man to five weeks’ imprisonment for punching a Singapore police officer in an inebriated state while arguing with a crowd of more than 10 people.

One punch was so powerful it knocked the officer unconscious “for at least a minute” and caused him to temporarily lose his memory, the Today newspaper reported.

On Tuesday, 24-year-old Devesh Raj Rajasegaran was sentenced to five weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt in March this year.

According to reports, Devesh will appeal against the sentence.

The court was told that the victim was one of four police officers who were dispatched to an area on Circular Road in the central business district on June 25, 2022, after a member of the public reported them to be “arguing between more than 10 people” at around 3am.

Before this, Devesh and his friend Ishwar Ravi were drinking alcohol nearby.

When the police reached there, they found some people, including Devesh and Ishwar, creating a “commotion” on Circular Road.

At that time police officers dressed in civil dress approached the group and introduced themselves as police officers. Three of them were volunteer police officers.

While the victim and another officer were questioning a member of the group, Devesh approached them to confront the man who was being interviewed. Soon after, Devesh punched the police officer on the left side of his head.

“The accused was in an inebriated condition when he punched the victim. The victim lost consciousness for at least one minute as a result of the accused’s punch,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Bryan Tan said in court documents.

The officer was later taken to Singapore General Hospital by ambulance. From the time he was punched to the time he arrived at the hospital, he regained consciousness and then fainted several times.

The victim was allowed to remain in hospital for seven days and reported suffering from temporary memory loss and severe headaches for at least three days following the incident.

For voluntarily causing hurt, Devesh could have been jailed for up to three years and ordered to pay a fine of up to Singapore dollars 5,000 (roughly Rs. 3.08 lakhs) or both.