Pandit accused of murder freed after Court upholds no- case submission

Reliance, East Canje Magistrate Renita Singh on Wednesday dismissed the murder charges brought against Pandit Tharun Balgobin, who was accused of killing Angraj Kumar Indrpaul in 2022.
The religious leader was being tried for the murder of Indrpaul, 59, of New Area, Canefield, East Canje, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) committed on August 13, 2022.
He was, however, set free on Wednesday after Attorney at Law Mursaline Bacchus made a no-case submission during the preliminary inquiry (PI).
The lifeless body of Indrpaul, a security guard attached to the Guyana Sugar Corporation’s (GuySuCo’s) Rose Hall Estate, was discovered floating in the Canje River in August 2022.
He had last been seen alive when he had reported for duty one day prior to his death. The following morning, when the person who had to take over the shift arrived at the work site, only Indrpaul’s footwear was seen. Several hours later, his body was discovered floating in the Canje River.

An autopsy performed on the body a few days later gave the cause of his death as manual strangulation.
Police later arrested the religious leader, and he confessed to the crime. He reportedly told investigators that he and Indrpaul had been working in the pump station when they had had a misunderstanding and he strangled Indrpaul.
Balgobin reportedly told detectives that he had instructed Indrpaul to clean the grill, but he refused. This angered him, and he retaliated by choking the man to death. After realizing that the man had become unresponsive, he had then thrown the man’s body overboard.