Although three men allegedly set alight two Enterprise, East Coast Demerara houses within hours last week, Divisional Commander Edmond Cooper says that the fires are not being investigated as arson.
Cooper yesterday told Stabroek News that the information received by investigators does not point to the direction of arson.
He, however, noted that the fires are being investigated and efforts are being made to arrest the suspects, who are yet to be located.
Around 7 pm last Friday, Stabroek News was told that three men went to Lot 450 Church Street, Enterprise and enquired about an individual by the name of ‘Pumpkin.” The men then forcibly entered the house, which was later discovered to be engulfed by flames.
The two-storey house is owned and occupied by 55-year-old Ramesh Putulall, his niece and her two daughters.
This newspaper was previously told that ‘Pumpkin’ reportedly shared a relationship with Putalall’s niece and lived at the house, although he was often not at the residence.
A relative of Putulall, who wished not to be named, explained that the niece and her children moved into the house about two months ago.
It is suspected that the same men had turned up hours earlier at a house at Lot 507 Forbes Street, Enterprise, owned by Anjanee Singh and her siblings, and enquired about “Pumpkin.”
After they were told by one of the occupants that no one by that name lived at the location, they proceeded up the stairs and set the house on fire.
This house was occupied by six persons, including three children.
It remains unclear if the men might have gone to the wrong house in this instance and therefore later returned the said evening to the Church Street house.
This newspaper had been told that the police were then examining a possible link between the fires and the recent suspected pirate attack in Suriname since at least one of the victims is a fisherman.
