Stabroek News was told that ranks detained Khemwattie after receiving reports that she lent assistance to Muniram when he turned up at her home on Wednesday night.
Up to press time last evening the 28-year-old man who was described as a “controlling husband” was still in police custody assisting with the investigations into the murder of Sunita August whose semi nude body was pulled from a canal close to a Nismes koker around 6 pm on Wednesday.
Police said that he was handed over to ranks around 16:30 hours.
Relatives of August, a 24-year-old mother of three last evening expressed relief that Muniram is in police custody.
Initially the man had told persons including his mother that he had ingested poison but after his appearance yesterday many questioned if this was indeed so.
Police on Wednesday found a bottle suspected to have contained a poisonous substance near the area where August’s body was eventually found.
Her cousin Rita Davis who had identified the body yesterday questioned how the poisonous substance ended up all over Muniram’s face and opined that he never drank but rather it got there during a scuffle between the couple.
She said that the post-mortem examination scheduled for today will gave clues as to exactly what transpired and if August had consumed any of the liquid.
Davis told Stabroek News that the woman’s children are crying and repeatedly asking about their mother’s whereabouts.
“He ain’t had no right killing she despite whatever problem they had”, the woman said angrily pointing out that he had left three children motherless.
From the reports reaching Stabroek News, the woman left her home on Wednesday morning to meet Muniram, from whom she had separated after a dispute, to collect money for two of her children who he had fathered.
Persons living close to the dam that leads to the koker at Nimes recalled seeing August being reluctantly led to that area by the suspect some time on Tuesday.
On Wednesday morning though, Muniram was seen towing his wife on a bicycle, heading in the direction of the koker.
He was seen leaving the area alone some time later.
Muniram returned to La Grange where he told a friend and his mother what he had done. The police were informed and went to the Nismes sea dam where they found August’s clothing – underwear, pants, her slippers and a bed sheet near the koker. Her body was not there, but there was evidence on the ground that suggested that someone had been dragged towards the koker, a police source told this newspaper.
Police went beyond that spot, combing the sea dam for the woman’s body but came up empty-handed. While this search was being conducted, other policemen, some armed, were combing the bushes behind Unity Street, La Grange where Muniram had fled. Police told Stabroek News that the man was spotted around 1 pm but fled and they did not fire at him because at that stage it was unclear whether he had indeed committed a crime.
The police combed the bushy terrain for several more hours but were unable to find Muniram.
