The body of Dhaniram Ramgopaul, the 14-year-old Apex Secondary School student who went missing on Saturday, was yesterday pulled out of the creek where his family had been picnicking when he disappeared.
His father, Kunjbeharry Ramgopaul, said he received a phone call about the discovery of his son’s body at 5.30 am from a creek employee, just as he was entering the Timehri Police Station.
When Stabroek News visited Ramgopaul’s residence at 134 Phase 2, Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, the distraught man said his son had bruises on his belly, neck and arms.
The man also said that his son’s body was not swollen and he was still wearing his white vest and white trunks, the clothes he was last seen with.
Ramgopaul said the police currently have four male suspects in custody who are known to the family and one female suspect.
He said the four men used to sell CDs in his neighbourhood, but they had moved out a few months back.
The family and the police had continued to search for the boy on Monday and during that time, a female employee at the creek told them to ask a “CD guy” who had been seen lingering around the creek at the time of Ramgopaul’s disappearance.
The ‘CD guy’ who lives at Kuru, on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway was tracked down by the police and the boy’s relatives. When he was approached, the man ran off. He was then chased down and apprehended.
The police then got wind about other people suspected to know about the boy’s whereabouts.
Investigations were carried out and three men were seen at a flat unpainted concrete house; they scampered off when the police approached. They were chased down and caught.
Ramgopaul said he had observed nothing strange about the men who used to sell CDs in his neighbourhood and he was surprised by the circumstances surrounding his son’s death.
The boy and his family had visited the creek opposite Splashmin’s Fun Park and his mother became alarmed after he went to the washroom and never returned.
This prompted her to send his brother to look for him, but he came back empty-handed. The entire family then searched for the boy with help from the police.
The boy’s body is currently at Lyken’s Funeral Home and the results of a post-mortem examination will be available today. Ramgopaul said his family will start making funeral arrangements afterwards.
All efforts to contact the Officer in charge at the Timehri Police Station were unsuccessful.
