Relatives fear kidnap victim
killed
WORRIED: kidnap victim Kamaldeo Ganesh's wife, Sonita Godette with their two children Annie, 8 years, and Ajay, 4. |
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The young
father was kidnapped Wednesday night and up to late last night there was no sign
of him, relatives said.
They said
there were rumours that Ganesh had been killed and his body dumped somewhere in
Buxton, also on the East Coast, but there were no confirmed reports of his
death.
A mournful
crowd of relatives and friends yesterday gathered at his home hoping that with
assistance from the Police and Army, who went on a search, they would have found
him.
However, they were unable to find any trace of Ganesh.
Police
Commissioner Floyd McDonald told a news conference yesterday that Police were
looking for a woman to assist with the investigations into the kidnapping of
Ganesh.
Found Dead
Sunday, October 27, 2002
Body of kidnap victim found near Buxton
road
KILLED: Kamaldeo `Golo' Ganesh |
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It was found
around 07:00 hrs about two miles aback of Buxton, East Coast Demerara, in the
vicinity of the Church of God road, Police said in a press
release.
Ganesh's black
Night Hawk motorcycle, licence number CD 3939, which he left home with on the
night he was kidnapped, was also found about 20 metres south of his body, Police
said.
Relatives who went to
identify the body, said it was partly decomposed and had what appeared to
be several gunshot wounds in the back, and at the back of his
head.
Someone on
Wednesday night made contact with Ganesh's relatives by telephone and demanded a
ransom and they were instructed to take it within 15 minutes to the Buxton Side
Line Dam and the railway embankment.
His wife,
Sonita Godette, said the person with whom she spoke instructed her to hand over
the money to someone who would have been waiting there to collect
it.
However, the
victim's relatives were unable to meet the demand, (an undisclosed amount)
because it was difficult to acquire the money they were asking for in such a
short time, Godette explained.
The caller
also instructed that the matter should not be reported to the
Police.
Following
reports of the kidnapping, relatives began to conduct a search for Ganesh with
assistance from the Police and the Army.
Police and
Army ranks carried out a search on Friday, in the Buxton Backdam area but did
not find any trace of Ganesh.
A mournful
crowd of relatives and friends gathered on Friday at the victim's home hoping
that the Police and Army, who went on a search, would have found
him.
Police
Commissioner Floyd McDonald told a news conference Friday that Police were
looking for a woman to assist with the investigations into the kidnapping of
Ganesh.
Godette said
that her husband on Wednesday, around 18:00 hrs, went on his usual evening ride
down the railway embankment road on his motorcycle.
She said that
about an hour later, an unidentified person called her on her husband's cell
phone, demanding a ransom for his release.
She said that
in one instance the person put her husband to speak on the phone and he related
that he was about to die.
"He said, me
half dead and dem gon kill me, dem gon carry me way now and dem gon kill me, see
wah all yuh could do. He start cry and then somebody tek way the phone and said
`all yuh get de money?'"
The wife said
that during the telephone conversation she remembered hearing noises in the
background, which sounded as if they were beating her husband.
Asked whether
her husband's kidnappers had disclosed their location, she said they told her
they were in the Vryheids Lust backdam, also on the East Coast.
Kamaldeo's
mother, Chandra Ganesh, who operates a stall at the Stabroek Market in
Georgetown where she sells cloth, said he assists her with the business and
after work in the afternoon he would usually go for a ride down the railway
embankment road up to Buxton and return.
She recalled
that shortly before her son left to go for the ride Wednesday, a woman had
called for him on the telephone.
In apparent
response to that call he went off, but returned shortly after, she
recalled.
He went out again shortly after, she said, but never returned.