Sunday March 9, 2003

Kidnapped chamber official flees country
Dev Sharma, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce official who was kidnapped on Wednesday night and managed to escape a few hours later, has fled the country.
Reports reaching Stabroek News state that Sharma might be in the United States.
The 35-year-old man was reportedly snatched from his Agricola home on the East Bank Demerara Wednesday night by two men as he reversed his 4x4 vehicle into the yard. Neighbours said the men emerged, dragged Sharma to the back of his vehicle and shot the man’s wife as she raised an alarm.
Earlier reports from the police stated only that Sharma managed to flee from his captors in Buxton on Thursday morning.
Attorney-at-law Vic Puran representing Sharma issued a statement that “on his own time, Mr. Dev Sharma will tell the full story of his escape from his abductors. For the time being, he has instructed me to make available a few facts - that his abduction was entirely an act of banditry, that he was taken to Buxton from Agricola on the public road; that he was burnt, beaten and otherwise tortured when he refused to plead for his life; that there was a dispute amongst his captors as to who would have the privilege of killing him; that his escape involved a bit more than jumping out of the window and running away; that Guyanese of African and Indian descent stood guard over him at the Guyana School of Agriculture and at various points in the compound awaiting the arrival of his father; that the police at Vigilance claimed that they had no vehicle to come to GSA.”
Sources said Sharma had been burnt with cigarette butts and lighters, all over his skin. There was no mention of a ransom demand, or any other motive for the kidnapping.