FORMER death row inmate, Bharatraj Mulai, who in 2013 had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment, died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) on Saturday last.

The deceased prisoner, who had spent more than two decades behind bars, had fallen ill.

Mulai began his prison sentence on Death Row in July 1994, when he and his brother, Lallman Mulai, were sentenced to death for the 1992 murder of Doodnauth Seeram at Mahaica Creek. However, in 1995 the Court of Appeal had set aside the death sentence and ordered a retrial, but one year later the Mulais’ were again convicted and sentenced to death.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the sentence on appeal but in 2013 it was commuted to life imprisonment by then acting Chief Justice, Ian Chang.

The Guyana Chronicle has learnt that the dead prisoner’s relatives have asked the prison authorities for permission to bury him, and the Guyana Prison Service has approved.