ASSISTANT Commissioner of Police (Administration) Balram Persaud, who was involved in a car crash near the Demerara Harbour Bridge one week ago, is said to be recovering slowly at the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital in Georgetown.This was confirmed by police sources who paid the senior officer visits in the hospital this week. According to reports, the senior police officer slammed into a utility pole after he lost control of the car he was driving.

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party, and former Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee, said earlier this week he was of the view that the senior officer might have been a victim of an assassination plot. The 54- year-old Persaud, was at the time of his admission to hospital, considered as having a 50/50 chance of survival, but later in the week he was said to be out of danger. His relatives had refused to speak with the Chronicle, after accusing this publication of writing things about Persaud and about the accident that were not factual.

Earlier this week, Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan, indicated to this publication that he was to receive a report from the doctors who were treating Persaud. He said also that he and the Police Commissioner had visited the injured officer, who acknowledged their presence by shaking his head. Persaud could not have spoken then, since he was still hooked up to a machine.

“Thank God he is reacting. He recognised me, he shook his head, he knew me. He just cannot speak as it were, but he is indicating by virtue of shaking his head,” Ramjattan said in his interview earlier this week.

There has been no official word from the police regarding the accident, and Police Public Relations Officer Ivelaw Whittaker told this publication on Monday, when asked about a possible release on the matter, that there will be no such release, since the details of the crash are already in the public domain.