A Diamond resident succumbed at a city hospital yesterday morning, hours after being found lying in a pool of his own blood along the Diamond Public Road, on the East Bank of Demerara, and his family suspects that he was a victim of foul play.
Dead is Nezaam Khan, called ‘Damian,’ 46, of Lot 1159 Section ‘A’ Block X, Diamond Housing Scheme, who was an employee of the Ministry of Education.
Sunday Stabroek understands that the discovery of Khan’s body was made just before midnight on Friday.
Khan was subsequently transported by the police to the Diamond Hospital, from where he was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), where he died around 10 am yesterday.
At the time, there was a gash to his nose and scratches about his face. His belongings, including money, his cellphone and keys, are yet to be located.
A police source informed this newspaper that investigators are awaiting an autopsy report to determine the way forward in the matter. The autopsy is to be conducted tomorrow.
Martha Persaud, the dead man’s mother, yesterday related to his newspaper that she last saw Khan alive around 1.30 pm on Friday, when he left home to do some errands. “He (Khan) leave home to do some errands and go to GPL (Guyana Power and Light) to pay the light bill and after [that] he went and hang out with some friends,” she said.
Hours after, Persaud said, she spoke to Khan over the phone and he informed her that he would return home by 10 pm. “He was somewhere in Charlotte Street with some friends drinking and when they leave there they went to Banks DIH and from there he and one of the guys took a bus home,” Persaud recalled.
She said it is customary for Khan to hang out with his friends every Friday.
However, as time elapsed and Khan did not return home, Persaud became worried and started to call him. Calls to his phone went to voicemail.
She said she then contacted one of his close friends who was not with him and he ventured out to search for Khan.
However, the friend too came up empty handed.
Persaud further explained that she went to the Diamond Police Station yesterday morning and she learnt that the description she provided to the police matched that of an individual that was found on the public road.
She was later taken to the GPH, where she positively identified the individual as her son.
Persaud added that while at the hospital, she was told that she needed to make arrangements for Khan to undergo a CT scan.
It was while she was making the arrangements that doctors informed her that Khan passed away. “They (doctors) were working on him. They work round the clock to try to save him but he didn’t make it,” she said.
Persaud said based on information she received, Khan and one of his friends joined a Route 42 minibus, and he disembarked at Diamond Public Road and the friend continued to Grove, where he resides. “…But I don’t know why my son took a Grove bus and not a Diamond bus,” Persaud said.
Persaud explained that the family has since been receiving conflicting reports and foul play is suspected in Khan’s death. “I don’t know if something hit him down because remember he was intoxicated or someone hit him. I can’t say,” she, however, noted.
At the time of his demise, Khan was on two weeks’ leave. He was scheduled to return to work tomorrow.
