Leroy Smith

A businessman who paid for the murder of his former employee and another man who performed the duty of  hitman back in 2012, were today remanded to prison.

Nankumar Ganesh and Amarnauth Bhopaul were remanded to prison by Magistrate Alicia George when they appeared at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court today.

The men were shackled at the hands and feet when they were escorted into the courtroom by ranks from the Major Crimes Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department.

The court heard that on Tuesday, April 17, 2012 the two murdered Jadesh Dass at Chelsea Mahaica in the East Demerara Magisterial District. They were not required to plea to the indictable charge.

Businessman Bhopaul is said to be the number two accused and mastermind of the crime, while Ganesh who carried out the hit was listed as the number one accused.

While the number one accused was unrepresented in the court , the businessman had legal representation. The lawyer for the businessman requested of the court, full disclosure of all statements in the matter.

He made the application after informing the court that he was instructed by his client that during the several confrontations between his client and other persons who were arrested, the stories of the persons continued to change and there was not consistency with what those persons were saying to the investigators.

None of the men were charged with any other offences prior to the murder charge, the court was told.

Back in 2012 Dass was killed after he stopped his truck to render assistance to persons who tricked him into believing that their truck had broken down along the roadway. They used the opportunity to kill the man after accusing him of being too friendly with the wife of another businessman, who he previously worked for and who is said to be the brother of the mastermind of the crime.

The family got nowhere with the case back in 2014 and after four years, the police decided to revisit the case and headway was made with additional information.

Today persons who are close to the entire episode indicated to the News Room that one of the reasons the matter apparently never got off the ground causing the family to wait four years for justice, was due to the ranks of a certain East Coast Demerara Police Station accepting bribes in various forms from persons who were fingered in the crime back then.

Information has now  surfaced that certain elements within the Police ‘C’ Division at the time also had vehicles purchased for them as a means of keeping the investigation into the murder stagnated.