Man's secret marriage busted after second wife gave birth at hospital where first wife worked

A man in Singapore has been rumbled for having a secret marriage after his second wife gave birth in the hospital where his first wife works.

While cheating might be fairly common in a lot of relationships around the world, bigamy is another matter entirely.

The act of marrying someone while already married is a criminal offence in nearly every country in the world, and really is a step up from the modern polyamorous partnerships you see online.

So, although the concept of hotwifing or swinging might seem far worse, being caught with two wives or two husbands is a literal crime - and can land you a prison sentence if you're not careful.

Vaithialingam Muthukumar had been pretty careful with his extramarital activities until he got his second wife pregnant, and she was rushed to hospital to give birth.

He managed to hide his second marriage for over a year (Getty Stock)

After moving to Singapore for work, the Indian national met Salmah Bee Abdul Razak through work, and they entered a relationship, despite him having been married since 2007.

Salmah already knew about Vaithialingam's marriage, and he promised that he would soon get a divorce, but they married in secret back in 2022, in a move which feels right out of a terrible drama TV show.

Vaithialingam managed to juggle both wives better than Henry VIII, until a fateful day in September 2023, which most men would see as one of the happiest of their lives, as his wife gave birth.

Unfortunately for the 49-year-old, it turned into a bit of a nightmare, as it just so happened that his wife was working at the very same hospital that day. She spotted him emerging from the hospital's delivery suite, which would be a strange place to see your partner if you weren't with them.

It's not easy to talk your way out of being in a delivery room with another woman (Getty Stock)

Instead of coming up with an elaborate lie, he confessed straight away, but it wasn't until a year later that he ran into issues with the law, as surprisingly it was his second wife, Salmah, who reported him to the police.

Vaithialingam was handed a jail sentence of three months and three weeks after a court date on 21 August, having also been fined a significant amount due to the laws against bigamy in Singapore.

In contrast to London buses, you would imagine that Vaithialingam will soon go from having two wives to having none, after several years of deceit.

Still, I'm not sure if that is better or worse than the woman whose marriage lasted less than 24 hours after she discovered a dark secret about her new husband.