Persons responsible for burning welder’s body still to be charged

The people who reportedly found the decomposed body of Yogindra “Steve” Ramkarran and burnt same one month ago without an investigation being conducted are yet to be charged.

The body of Ramkarran was found on July 4 and set alight by his co-workers after they were allegedly instructed to do so by their boss.
Police had acknowledged that while Ramkarran’s cause of death was unknown due to the fact that his body was burnt before an autopsy could have been performed, the sawmill owner and a few others were hauled in for questioning into the circumstances surrounding the man’s death.
However, despite repeated claims by the employees involved that they were instructed by their boss to burn Ramkarran’s body, the sawmill owner continues to deny such allegations.
Following the revelation, acting Crime Chief Michael Kingston had said that a file had been sent for legal advice on the way forward in relation to the matter.
Bur when contacted over the weekend, Kingston related that action is still to be taken pending the necessary advice.
“No, I have not seen back that file but I do have a set of files on my desk that I am going through. I don’t know if the file is in this bundle. I do have a set of files on my desk when I check it I will see”.
He had explained that upon receiving the report about the discovery of the man’s body, a detective was deployed to the area to investigate.

But, due to the distance, it took some time for the police to arrive at that location.
“Indeed, the body had begun to decompose. So, the police left to go and get assistance and when he returned with the assistance, that is what they had done [burn the body]. The police had no involvement in the burning of that body, none at all, the men in work said they were acting on the instruction of their employer [to burn the body] but he denied this.”
As a result of this, the workers who burnt the body, along with their employer, were arrested and taken into Police custody for the mandatory 72-hour holding period as investigations were underway.
“We are seeking legal advice. It is a matter of, it is one of these strange matters that we never really had to deal with before, so we had to seek legal advice. The file is presently with the legal adviser at the Director of Public Prosecutor’s chambers.”
The acting Crime Chief stated that although it has been alleged that the ashes from the decomposed body belonged to Ramkarran, the necessary testing needs to be conducted to confirm same.
The body was not completely burnt to ashes and, therefore, samples of the remains will be tested at the Guyana Forensic Science Laboratory (GFSL) to confirm the identity of the dead person.
“We had a crime scene team that went up into the area, we took whatever bone sample was there and samples were also taken from the relatives. That is basically for DNA purposes, we will utilise the services of the (GFSL) lab unless they tell us that they are incapable. But for now, we will utilise the services of the lab and a file has already been compiled and sent for legal advice on this matter.”
Thirty-four-year-old welder, Ramkarran of Number 72 Village, Berbice, was discovered dead by his colleagues about 100 feet from his camp.
it was reported that the now dead man 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. A photograph that was taken by a colleague showed what appeared to be a stab wound to his chest.
Meanwhile, the now dead man’s sister, Somwattie, and other relatives are holding out that the man was murdered and his body was burnt to cover up evidence.