The body of a welder who mysteriously died in the interior was burnt by his co-workers even before the police could investigate his death.
Thirty-four-year-old welder, Yogindra Steve Ramkarran of Number 72 Village, Berbice, was discovered dead by his colleagues about 100 feet from the camp he was employed at in Berbice on July 4, 2019, but it is unclear as to what led to his demise.
According to a senior police source close to the investigation, Ramkarran was allegedly consuming alcohol at a shop a short distance away from the camp on July 3 and after the business closed, he left to return to the camp.
However, he was not seen again until his co-workers found his body the following morning. This newspaper was told that the workers informed their employer and they were allegedly informed to burn the body.
“They said the boss told them that he was in contact with the family and told them to burn the man’s body. But the boss, who is the owner, said he never told them to do that. They just burnt his body to ashes even before we [Police] could get there to investigate so as it is, we don’t know how he died because there is no body to conduct a post-mortem on,” the police source explained.
He stated that it is suspected that Ramkarran was murdered, adding that one of the workmen had taken a photograph of his body before it was destroyed by fire.
“From the photograph taken in the worker’s phone, it looked like a stab wound on Ramkarran’s chest. But we will never know because they burnt his body to ashes and while we have some of the ashes, obviously we cannot tell his cause of death. We arrested five of them but due to no evidence, we had to release them. We even approached the High Court for an extension to hold them but that request was denied,” the police source explained.
However, a file has been sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice on the way forward. Ramkarran’s case is still open and investigations into his death continue, the police officer noted.
The now dead man’s sister, Somwattie, had told Guyana Times on Sunday last that at that time, although over three days had passed since news spread of her brother’s death, she along with her other siblings were clueless about the entire situation.
“My husband called the sawmill where Steve was employed at and the owner told him that Steve died and that they are making preparation to bring his body out from river.”
However, the distraught woman had stated that three individuals, who worked at the sawmill, arrived at her residence on Friday afternoon and they related to her family that her brother’s body was decomposed and could not be removed from the location where it had been found.
“They say that the body had to burn right there or bury right there but we did not see a picture with him to know if it is Steve. I don’t know what happened with Steve. The first call my sister gave me, she told me Steve was in an accident with a truck but when my husband called the boss man, he said like Steve had fight or maybe he had a few drinks since July 1st was holiday…I don’t know if he fight with anyone but I don’t know nothing,” the grieving sister related.
