– suspects confess
-culprits ate chocolate, drank beer during act

By Clifford Stanley

POLICE arrested four men yesterday as they began investigating the deaths of 81-year-old Arthur Rajkumar, a Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice businessman; and his reputed wife, Dianne Chamanlall, 44, whose mutilated bodies were found lying in pools of blood in their home at Lot 93A Middle Dam Bush Lot, in what is believed to be a robbery/murder committed by men from the village.

One of the men who was arrested confessed to the crimes and implicated two of the other three men who were arrested.

The bodies were found at approximately 03:00 hrs when police responded to telephone calls about loud screaming
emanating from the house. The first screams were heard at about 02: 45 hrs.

The quick police response resulted in the perpetrators being interrupted, and they jumped a fence at the back of the premises and fled the scene. Ranks discharged

rounds in the air as they pursued them, but the perpetrators managed to escape.
They had apparently come to the house on foot, since there was no getaway vehicle in the vicinity.

The victims had lived in the upper flat of the two-storey building. They died from multiple chop wounds about their bodies. Blood-spattered hall and bedroom walls, blood-soaked pillows, blood spattered furniture, and a blood-spattered telephone left off the hook served as grim reminders of the heinous ordeal the couple had endured.

A half-eaten bar of chocolate, empty beer bottles scattered nearby, and empty sardine tins suggested that the perpetrators had splurged on the goods in the home before bludgeoning the couple to death. Chilling, too, were two spots where defecation was on the floor, leading investigators to surmise that the perpetrators may have been in the home long before the screams were heard.

Bags of items were found in the home, suggesting to Police that the motive was indeed robbery.

Rajkumar, also known as Uncle Arthur, was the owner of the School View Ice Cream Parlour located at the bottom flat of the two-storey building. He had returned from the US, where his four children live, just about two weeks ago. He had established a relationship with the younger Chamanlall for quite some time, and the two had lived alone at the property. The shop contained a pool table which was frequently used by youths from the area.

There were no obvious signs of forced entry into the building.
People who knew the couple suggested that the perpetrators may have posed as customers and may have either secreted themselves in the business place until it had closed, or had forced the couple to close and then committed the dastardly act.

A reliable source has said that consumption of food in victims’ homes by the perpetrators is similar to the pattern of home invasions reported by victims of burglaries in West Coast Berbice in recent weeks.

The most recent act of home invasion and murder on the West Coast of Berbice occurred last Sunday at Bath Settlement, about three miles east of Bush Lot Village.

Bandits entered the victims’ home by removing a grill at the back of the building, and then tortured Anita Baichan, 49, a cash crop farmer, and her son Moshin Khan, 23, for over two and a half hours, before gagging the hapless pair, binding them hand and foot with duct tape, and setting their home on fire whilst they fled the scene on a bicycle.

Ms Baichan had tried to escape from the building, but ended up perishing therein. Her son had managed to escape by rolling down the stairs and getting help in freeing himself, but by the time he could return upstairs to rescue his mother, it was too late. A Post-Mortem done on Ms Baichan found that she had died from smoke inhalation.

Police investigations into this home invasion, robbery and murder are ongoing, and have not yet resulted in any charges being laid against any suspect.