Murdered Berbice pandit laid rest

Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha was among those in attendance at the funeral of Rishi Bharat, the pandit who was beaten to death two Sundays ago by a group of drunken men at his at Crabwood Creek, Corentyne, Berbice home. On behalf of the Government, he extended condolences to the family of Bharat.
Also present at Saturday’s funeral were Regional Vice Chairman of Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) Zamal Hussain; Commander of Region Six, Superintendent of Police Jairam Ramlakhan, and his Deputy Superintendant Sawh. Last Friday, six men were remanded to prison for the pandit’s murder.

They are Gregory Tejpertab, Razan Ally, Anil Angershalam, Javed Ghanie, Devendra Khemraj, and Vidaiand Khemraj. They were not required to plead to an indictable charge for the capital offence of murder when they appeared before Senior Magistrate Alex Moore at the Number 51 Magistrate’s Court.
They will make another court appearance on October 14.

It was reported that the 60-year-old pandit was lashed to the head with a piece of wood and with beer bottles. His 11-year-old son was also injured during the ordeal. Police Headquarters had said that on the day in question, a group of eight men were imbibing and using foul language in front of Bharat’s property.
At around 02:15h, Bharat went out to the men with a piece of wood and told them to remove from the area. However, the men became annoyed, armed themselves, and began hitting the religious leader about his body, causing him to collapse on the street.
Bharat was picked up by his relatives in an unconscious state and rushed to the Skeldon Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. (G1)