The body of Kemraj Dass, suspected to have been brutally killed by a mate aboard a tug and dumped into the river, is yet to be recovered but his relatives are not giving up hope.
Dass known as `Lakeram’ or `Lako’, 47, of Lot 16 Bella Dam, West Bank Demerara, was said to have boarded a vessel to collect lumber up the Demerara River on Saturday last along with a father and son. It is suspected that an argument ensued between the son and Dass and he was allegedly stabbed and his body dumped overboard.
The dead man’s brother, Bharrat Dass, told Stabroek News that he had made contact with the tug owner, who indicated that if the police did not find the body by today he will organize a search party to comb the area in search of his employee.
Bharrat Dass said, “I tell he that we ready fuh help with anything as long as we find he body that is all we want.”
In a press release, the police stated that they are investigating the suspected murder of Kemraj Dass which occurred during Saturday night aboard a tug moored alongside a Friendship, East Bank Demerara wharf.
Initial investigations, they said, revealed that Dass and a father and son were aboard a tug which was travelling to a timber grant at Yaruni, up the Demerara River. Around midnight the father awoke and made checks and was told by his son that he had struck Dass to the head, stabbed him and thrown him overboard during an argument. The son was arrested and is in police custody assisting with investigations, police said.
Stabroek News was earlier told by relatives that Kemraj Dass had only left home shortly before 6 pm on Saturday to join the vessel on which he had worked three times before, to retrieve timber at a logging concession at Yaruni up the Demerara River.
