Six Upper Corentyne men were yesterday jointly charged with murdering Crabwood Creek Hindu priest, Rishi Bharrat, who was fatally beaten after he attempted to disperse persons who were behaving raucously in front of his residence on Saturday evening.
Devendra Khemraj also known as `Baya’, 29, of Lot 66 Grant 1805 Crab-wood Creek; Javed Ghandie also known as `Stempid’, 22, of Lot 34 ‘B’ Grant 1806 Crabwood Creek; Ramzan Ally also known as `Jack’, 18, of Crabwood Creek; Anil Angershalam, 25, of Crab-wood Creek; Vidaianand Khemraj, 24, of Lot 66 Grant 1805 Crabwood Creek and Gregory Tejpertab also known as `Greg’, 27, of Crabwood Creek, all appeared at the Number 51 Magistrate’s Court where they were charged with the murder of Bharrat also known as `Haribol’, 60, a joiner of Lot 10 Grant 1806 Crab-wood Creek.
The six men were not required to plead to the charge and were remanded to prison by Magistrate Alex Moore. They will return to court on October, 14.
Devendra Khemraj and Vidaianand Khemraj were represented by Attorney at law, Charlyn Artiga while Ghandie and Tejpertab were represented by Attorney at law, Chandra Sohan. Ally and Angershalam indicated to the magistrate that they would be retaining lawyers as well.
Both attorneys yesterday told the court that their clients claimed that they were beaten and forced to sign a statement while in custody. However, Police Prosecutor, Orin Joseph said that the accused were arrested with marks on their bodies.
Meanwhile, relatives of the six men gathered at the court house yesterday telling them to “not worry about anything”. Some of the accused behaved angrily while being escorted into the prison van, screaming “We ain’t worried, we safe.” Another said, “Eyewitness, them like see.”
Terry Gobin, a close family friend of Bharrat’s, had explained to this newspaper, that the group of persons were in front of Bharrat’s residence imbibing and based on information gathered the men began to verbally abuse Bharrat’s young daughters causing him to scold them through his window.
Stabroek News was told that the men continued with their rowdy and abusive behaviour.
Bharrat then phoned the Springlands Police Station but police failed to show up at the scene. After the men continued their attack, Bharrat ventured outside with a stick in an effort to disperse them. Bharrat and the men then began to argue and the matter further escalated.
Gobin, who had described Bharrat as his brother, said, “He (Bharrat) turn to walk come in back and then one a them knock he in his head hard and he fall down and all start beat he up.”
According to eyewitnesses, the suspects armed themselves with pieces of wood which were on the road and beat the man about his body. A post-mortem examination later revealed that Bharrat died from a fractured skull and brain haemorrhage.
Commander of Region Six, Jairam Ramlakhan has since visited the relatives of Bharrat and assured that police patrols would be increased in their area.
