Police in `C’ Division say they are working on a number of leads in their investigation into the fatal armed robbery of rice farmer Hardat Kissoon and are optimistic that there will be a breakthrough.
Kissoon was shot dead in a mini bus by another passenger on Monday. At the time he was returning to his Cane Grove, Mahaica home after changing a cheque worth just over $500, 000 at a city bank. The money was his payment for paddy he had sold to a rice mill in the Mahaica area.
The new APNU+AFC administration will be under immediate pressure to ensure that the Guyana Police Force produces results in cases like these.
A police official told this newspaper yesterday that while no arrests have been made, investigators are “following leads”. He said that a helmet which was dropped in the bus by the gunman as he fled has been processed but he was unable to say if it revealed any fingerprints which could lead to the identification of the gunman.
Police had said in a press release that around 14:35 hours at Turkeyen Public Road, East Coast Demerara, Kissoon was travelling in a minibus when another man in the vehicle requested to get off. “As the man was passing Hardat Kissoon he pulled out a firearm and held him at gunpoint and demanded a bag that he had in his possession. A struggle ensued over the bag during which Hardat Kissoon was shot to his chest and the perpetrator escaped with the bag,” the release said.
Kissoon died on the scene. Based on the accounts given to this newspaper the gunman was constantly on this cellphone and moments after the shooting. Jumped onto the back of a waiting motorcycle which sped off.
Police officials told this newspaper that careful planning went into the incident. One police official said that there is nothing at this point to suggest that there was collusion between bank employees and the gunman. The official said that Kissoon could have been singled out based on a number of things. “It could be that he went in with a bag and came back out with it bulky…”
Based on what this newspaper was told shortly after the shooting, it would appear that after identifying Kissoon as a target, the gunman followed him to the Route 44 bus park. When the father of three would have boarded the bus, the gunman would have jumped in and ensured that he sat close to him. Ramdei Ramgobin told Stabroek News yesterday that she had heard nothing from the police about her son’s death. She said that she was told that the post-ortem examination will be conducted today following which he would be buried the next day.
Kissoon who also planted bora, left his home around 7:30 am after assisting his brother with “paddy shying”.
Like all other rice farmers and other business people in the area, whenever they have cheques to change they have to travel to the city as there are no commercial banks in Mahaica or surrounding villages.
