Tan Chor Jin (Chinese: 陈楚仁; pinyin: Chén Chǔrén;[2] 29 March 1966 – 9 January 2009), also known by his alias Tony Kia, was a Singaporean gang leader known for fatally shooting 41-year-old Lim Hock Soon, his former friend and nightclub owner, using a semi-automatic Beretta 0.22 calibre pistol on 15 February 2006.

Tan, who had underworld affiliations and was a member of Ang Soon Tong since his early years, had also robbed the Lim family of their valuables before he escaped Singapore to Malaysia, where he was arrested ten days later.

[3] His two accomplices, who played a part in assisting Tan to commit the crime and to escape Singapore, were each sentenced to six and twenty months' imprisonment in 2006 and 2016 respectively.

Tan's parents were originally from Guangdong, China before they immigrated to Singapore in the 1950s, and they worked as food stall owners to make ends meet.

[3] As he grew into adulthood, Tan Chor Jin joined the Ang Soon Tong gang, which existed since the 1950s and had a vast criminal network in trafficking drugs and arms, and both illegal money lending and gambling.

Tan would later on have a mistress named Lian Yee Hwa (Chinese: 连依华; pinyin: Lián Yīhuá), who was the same age as his wife.

The victim was recognised as Lim Hock Soon (Chinese: 林福顺; pinyin: Lín Fúshùn), a 41-year-old owner of a famous nightclub in Singapore (the Las Vegas KTV lounge on Havelock Road).

Additionally, Risa, the family maid, spoke to the police that prior to her employer's death, she peeked outside the bedroom and saw both Lim and the gunman, who seem to know each other, engaging in a heated row, but she could not make out what they were talking about.

Risa said that the mysterious man in black suddenly used his left hand to point the gun at Lim's face and fired at close range.

After they reached Serangoon, Ah Chwee remained in the car as Tan went into the block to look for Lim, this time armed and ready to rob the nightclub owner.

Afterwards, they went back to the friend's house, and contacted a Malaysian named Ho Yueh Keong (Chinese: 何岳强; pinyin: Hé Yuèqiáng), alias Moh Tang, who subsequently went out of Malaysia together with Tan.

[14] On 1 March 2006, despite his supposed fear of flying, Tan was extradited back to Singapore by flight, with the Singaporean police officers escorting him on the trip.

The other accomplice Ah Chwee, who surrendered himself prior to Tan's capture and faced a charge of abetting murder, was subsequently given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal, and he eventually received a jail term of six months for his failure to report the robbery to the police.

[23][24] Ah Chwee would later become one of the prosecution's key witnesses against Tan, who was dubbed the "One-Eyed Dragon" in Singapore's newspapers due to his abnormal one eye.

According to Anandan, he claimed that Tan was shocked and dumbfounded to discover the amendment as he thought he could call his psychiatrist to testify for him on his behalf to support the defence of diminished responsibility.

To rebut the fact that he owed the victim money, Tan even tried to portray himself as an affluent and generous businessman without any money problems by cross-examining his friends, who appeared in the court, to make them tell the court that Tan had made donations of RM100,000 to a Taoist temple in late 2005, as well as making a purchase of a Buddhist pendant with a monetary amount between S$20,000 (RM46,000) and S$30,000 (RM69,000) in cash in January 2006.

[37] In his closing submissions, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chew Chin Yee, who was assisted by his colleague Edwin San in this case, argued that Tan's testimony was not to be believed, given that it was built on untruthfulness, it was constructively evasive and at times, it was ludicrous to the point of reinforcing his guilt.

As such they urged the court to convict Tan of illegally discharging his gun six times and sentenced him to death, since he did so with the intention to hurt and kill the victim.

Justice Tay further explained in his written verdict that Tan has not rebutted or denied the fact that he fired his gun, hence there should be a presumption that he did so with an intent to kill or hurt.

From the evidence, Justice Tay also rubbished Tan's claims of alcohol intoxication resulting in diminished responsibility, given that he practically was able to recall the events that took place clearly.

From Dr Teo Eng Swee's autopsy report, it was emphasised by the pathologist that when the fatal shot was fired at Lim's right temple, he was already lying on the floor and was defenceless against Tan.

Anandan wrote that when he asked why, Tan replied that he just had a son, who was two years old in 2008, and the young boy had started to call him "Papa" (translated as father in Chinese).

He also befriended some of the death row inmates, including Leong Siew Chor, a notorious murderer who killed his 22-year-old lover Liu Hong Mei before dismembering her body into seven pieces and abandoning them at Kallang River.

He also made a final wish to atone his sins and save lives by donating his organs, specifically his kidneys, liver and the cornea of his remaining eye.

[4] Ho Yueh Keong, the Malaysian who assisted Tan in escaping Singapore, spent a total of nine years and five months on the run by hiding in Malaysia.

[2][44] On 8 August 2016, after standing trial in a district court, 43-year-old Ho Yueh Keong, who fathered a child (aged 3 in 2016) while on the run, pleaded guilty to abetting Tan's escape while the other charge of withholding evidence was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Abdul Halim said to the newspaper that back then, when he was the investigative officer of the case and saw the bullet-riddled corpse of Lim lying in his study room, there was a need for him anad his team of CID officers to manage the chaotic situation and crime scene properly to ensure no stone was left unturned, given the distress of the family members and the fact that a serious offence of murder was committed in such a situation where a killer took away a life in front of the witnesses.

[50] In January 2021, The Straits Times published an article that recalled the three most notorious gangsters from Singapore, which included Tan Chor Jin among these three people given his notoreity as the killer of Lim Hock Soon in 2006.

Roland Tan was wanted by Singaporean police for the unsolved murder of Lam Cheng Siew at Bras Basah in 1969, and he escaped to the Netherlands, where he founded Ah Kong and dabbled in illegal drug trafficking before he re-settled in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he passed away due to a heart attack in May 2020.

Aw was later killed by an unknown assailant in May 1999, and his funeral was attended by many members of the public and some police officers who paid their respects despite his gangland connections, as some residents remembered his kindness and him helping them getting out of financial trouble.