A businessman was yesterday granted his release on $1.5 million bail after he was charged with soliciting a former worker to carry out a murder.
The courtroom of Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan heard that Ganesh Rajkumar, 65, of 16 D’Urban and Henry streets, on August 26, 2016, at D’Urban and Henry streets, Georgetown, allegedly solicited Mark Sandy to murder Roger Connors.
Rajkumar, who is the owner of the Arawak Hotel in Berbice, was not required to plead to the indictable charge after it was read to him in the Georgetown court.
Senior Counsel Neil Boston, who represented the accused, made an application for bail, while claiming that the allegations made against Rajkumar were due to a failed attempt by Sandy to extort him. The lawyer explained that Sandy was once employed by Rajkumar as a security guard in the interior, where his client owns several mining camps. He charged that Sandy made a false accusation against Rajkumar when he got wind that the man was embarking on a business deal with a local bank that would have earned him a substantial amount of money.
Police Prosecutor Deniro Jones objected to bail for the accused, while citing the gravity of the charge and penalty attached to the offence. Jones told the court the court that Rajkumar was the mastermind behind the plot to kill Connors. The prosecutor also said he believed Rajkumar is a flight risk as he has the means to flee the jurisdiction and to interfere with witnesses in the case.
Boston later argued that his client would not flee and noted that he had been cooperating with the police during the investigation.
The Chief Magistrate subsequently granted the businessman his release on $1,500,000 bail, with the conditions that he lodge his passport at the court and report to the Criminal Investigations Department. The case was adjourned until March 28, when it will be called before Magistrate Leron Daly.
