A 61-year-old security guard of Bloomfield, Corentyne who was on duty at the Iskcon Sri Sri Radha Gokula Chandra Mandir at Block 6 Williamsburg was discovered dead around 3 o’clock this morning.
The body of Jagdat ‘Ronald’ Ramcharran was found on the porch of the mandir with the hands and feet bound and a cloth tied tightly around the neck.
A member, Tulla Persaud Udit told Stabroek News that so far one pair of pure gold ‘murti’ slippers, a bell and tape recorder were missing. The bandits cut open a grill to gain entry to the building and ransacked it.
Udit who is in charge of security said police were conducting investigations and after that they would be able to determine if anything else was stolen.
He said he suspected that “drug users” from the area “had done the act” and that Ramcharran who worked there for the past three years, met his demise after he apparently put up a fight.
According to him, members were at the church all day yesterday and the watchman went there from 6 pm. He said a “pujari,” Suratanauth Prabhu, 57, went there to worship, discovered the body and called him.
Prabhu told this newspaper that the watchman would normally open the gate for him. He said he kept calling for him and after he got no response he “assumed that he was drunk and sleeping.”
It then started to rain and he became anxious and asked two men who were watching cows nearby to assist him to get over the gate.
When he saw the man tied up and motionless, he said, he “got scared.”
According to Udit, last year a drug user entered the madir and stole “brass murtis” worth $100,000 and they announced that a reward of $10,000 would be offered for the items.
He said the man returned them and members decided not to get the police involved. At other times “artificial jewellery” was also stolen.
