By Heppilena Ferguson
The partly nude and headless body suspected to be that of missing businessman Farouk Kalamadeen was discovered this morning on Cowan Street, Kingston, around 200 yards from Camp Street.
The discovery was made by persons heading to work in the area sometime after 6 am and the police were notified; minutes later, they arrived on the scene. The body was clad in a pair of burgundy running shorts and according to investigators, may not have been there for too long. Kalamadeen had disappeared just after setting off for his routine jog.
It appeared that the head had been neatly and clinically severed. There was blood on the chest and parts of the arms, but the head was nowhere in sight. Significantly, there was no blood or any trace of it close to or around the body, which lay a few yards away from the nearby trench.
When this newspaper arrived on the scene, a police car parked conveniently to create a cordon was present and several onlookers were gathered at the scene. Police HQ Eve Leary is not far from where the body was discovered.
Within minutes of the discovery, members of the Police Special Branch arrived on the scene and the body was covered. Moments later, a back-up team of police investigators as well as relatives of the Jiffi Lubes owner, arrived on the scene and viewed the body.
A man, who told police he was Kalamadeen’s son, was seen conversing with investigators and answered several calls on his cellular phone. He declined to offer any comment to the media.
As several curious onlookers arrived on the scene around 7.15 am, Lyken Funeral Parlour workers arrived and removed the body. No relative or police rank was present at the parlour when this newspaper checked.
Police investigators remained on the scene and following brief consultation several officers started scouring around apparently for the head. Two divers were sent into the nearby trench and they searched for over half an hour.
Plastic bottles, several dry coconuts and a small blue bath towel were all they retrieved before they finally called off the search.
Residents occupying the Railway Embankment said they did not see or hear any strange sounds late last night or early this morning.
One woman who lives just opposite where the body was discovered told Stabroek News that she owns several dogs and they would alert her if there were any strangers around. She said she usually woke up at 6 each morning and did the same yesterday.
“I come outside and I see four men in all over black clothes standing at the end there and I say must be a dead dog because sometimes people thrown dead dog there . But then I hear them saying that is a body they find,” she said.
The woman said she did not see any vehicle or any thing strange.
Her neighbour said she too did not hear anything and only learnt that a body was there when she awoke this morning to see a group of persons assembled.
Since his disappearance, the man’s business place has never really been closed. However, the doors to the usually busy auto shop were shut tight this morning; several vehicles were lined up outside the shutters.
Two black flags hung on the eastern and western sides of the building and a few workers stood around. Queries by this newspaper revealed that staff were told that the owner’s body was found and that the business place would be closed until further notice.
Asked why the flags were being put up one employee told this newspaper “we boss man was killed and they found the body this morning.” The man said Kalamadeen’s son was convinced that the body was his father’s, even though police were unable to locate its head.
