— stolen vehicle yet to be located
DEPUTY Commissioner of Police (Law Enforcement) Mr. Seelall Persaud yesterday said that, in respect to taxi driver Rajendra Puran’s murder, the police arrested several persons and subsequently placed them on bail, but are continuing investigations and are looking for other suspects whom they believe have information pertinent to the case. He noted that the man’s white Toyota Raum, HB 9875, is yet to be located.
Rajendra Puran, 40, of Lot 1296 Section C, Block Y, Diamond, East Bank Demerara, was found in a drain at Logwood, Enmore, East Coast Demerara, on May 3, 2012.
A post-mortem on May 4 revealed that he had died of manual strangulation and blunt trauma to the head. Detectives at the crime scene had said that Puran’s death might have resulted from robbery/hijacking. They surmise that he had been killed elsewhere and his body dumped at the Enmore location.
Sixty-eight-year-old Joseph Badal, known as ‘Uncle Joe’, who lives at the Enmore address, told the Guyana Chronicle he had discovered Puran’s body at about 06:15 hrs when he went to retrieve the daily newspapers at the entrance to his yard.
The barefooted murder victim’s hands had been tied behind his back, and his feet and mouth had also been bound.
His grieving widow, Vesta Puran, said her husband had left home for work at about 21:00 hrs on Wednesday, after he had had a meal and a bath. She had retired to bed, but when she awoke at about 02:00 hrs and realised he had not returned home as usual, had tried to contact him on his cellular phone, but got no answer; and after several attempts, she had known something was amiss. She had telephoned his relatives and friends, hoping they had known of his whereabouts, but no one seemed to know where he was, until a friend informed that a man’s body was lying at Enmore. She and others had hurried to the scene, and identified her husband.