Basdeo Mangra, the North Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara man who passed away on Monday after a confrontation with a minibus conductor over loud music being played in the vehicle, died as a result of a heart attack.
This is according to the finding of an autopsy performed yesterday on the body of Mangra, 52, by pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, who gave the cause of death as cardiac arrest, police said in a press release.
Two men, the driver of the bus and the conductor who allegedly brandished an ice-pick during his row with Mangra, had been arrested after his death. Both men have since been released, police added.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had said that police are awaiting the post-mortem examination since during the altercation with the conductor, the man was hit a number of times. He said it was unclear if the man might have been stabbed with the ice-pick during the scuffle.
Mangra’s wife, Anita, had told Stabroek News that the confrontation between her late husband and the conductor occurred as they were travelling from their home to attend a wake for her late brother. Her husband, she said, complained about the music because the driver missed the stop for a passenger at Sugrim Singh Road, ending up four corners away. “My husband started to shout at the conductor to stop at the corner where the woman had asked him to and he started to curse back my husband after he asked him to turn down the music,” Anita said, while adding that the driver ignored her husband’s complaints and a heated argument ensued between the two men, which resulted in the conductor pulling out an ice-pick. “After he pull out the ice-picker, me husband tell he ‘You stab me, you go right ahead and do it.’ So, in fear, I scream at the driver for him to stop the bus and part the fight,” she added.
At the junction of the Russian Embassy in Kitty, the couple was asked by the driver to leave the bus.
Later, Anita Mangra said, while she and her husband were travelling in a Route 32 minibus, he started to complain about dizziness. When they reached Eccles, he complained about feeling hot and he experienced difficulty breathing. He later lost consciousness and the driver of the bus immediately rushed him to the Georgetown Hospital, but he died on the way.
