Proprietor of the South Central Hotel Joseph Jagdeo, who was found underneath a bed bound and gagged, was strangled to death, according to a post-mortem examination conducted yesterday.
Police said yesterday that the government pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh, who performed the examination on the 59-year-old man, gave the cause of death as “asphyxia due to manual strangulation.”
The police did not provide any details about the circumstances surrounding the man’s death or whether there was anyone in custody. Several persons had been detained, including a barwoman. It is unclear if they are still in police custody.
Based on what this newspaper was told, it was an employee who found Jagdeo at approximately 6am on Thursday at the 218 South Road business. His hands were tied and his mouth covered with a cloth.
The discovery of the man’s body in Room 10 of the hotel was made almost a day since he was last seen alive. Hotel staff recalled that since Wednesday Jagdeo had not been seen, which was odd because he would usually spend the majority of his day in his office, which is located at the front of the hotel on the second floor. However, as hotel staffers came and went through their shifts, no one seemed to know where Jagdeo was.
Employees recalled that the keys to Room 10 were found on the bed under which the man’s body was found, suggesting that whoever was in the room locked the door then threw the keys over the façade wall. One employee recalled that a live-in tenant, who goes by the call name “Buxton,” was looking for the Room 10 keys on Wednesday. Employees just assumed the key was missing and would turn up.
Police are continuing investigations.
