A daughter will not be silenced
Dear Editor, Father’s Day is rapidly approaching and I cannot help but think of the untimely death of my beloved father, Vickramaditya Vidyasagar Puran. We, the members of the Puran family, have been waiting in hope that some measure of justice would be meted out on those who killed him. We were afraid for our own safety to take action, lest we should have “accidents” but I can no longer cower to the fear of death and let those responsible walk the earth and live in sweet bliss, while my father has been reduced to nothing but a molecule. We have put in place measures, locally and internationally, so that in the event our vehicles wind up in Mahaicony trenches, our deaths would not go unsolved. Also, please let it be known that none of us are suicidal. I am sure that more than 90 per cent of the Guyanese population is already convinced that indeed my father was murdered and in fact from the forensic evidence I can come to no other conclusion. My father prided himself in the fact that he had many friends in the legal fraternity, but I say that he had none. None of the ‘friends’ have offered us an ear, assistance or even their condolences. I need not drop names. Those persons know who they are. Vic Puran offered assistance to many of those same ‘friends’ when they were in need. My father’s kindness and generosity extended to many persons who hold high positions now. Those persons have done nothing to vindicate his death or to even set the record straight that it was no accident. Everywhere I go I hear of ‘the lawyer who was killed and put in Mahaicony’ and it angers me that nothing was done. Those of us who knew Vic Puran, knew that he never drove to Mahaicony with his windows up. Ask this, how can a person who drowned have a mask of dried blood on his face? Wouldn’t he have bled out into the water while drowning? How can you drown and be dry at the same time? Those of us who had the chance to inspect the vehicle would also note that his vehicle was in park, the headlights not on, windows up and no air conditioning on. How those things escape police is a mystery to me. Where is the vehicle now? I am told that it has been sold. Pictures tell a thousand words and from them you will see that my father was tortured before he died, but officially, cause of death ‘asphyxiation’. There are numerous things that I can list and I am sure that the public is already aware of those things that will show that indeed my father was murdered. I am surprised that the amateur pathologist on the scene on the morning of the 16th of October, 2012, when my father’s body was discovered and uncovered, could make a declaration that ‘Given my experience, I am satisfied that it was an accident. I suspect that it was a combination of tiredness and hurrying to reach back to his wife to celebrate his birthday’. (Taken from Kaieteur newspapers dated the 17th of October, 2012.) From all reports, he never reached the farm and therefore could not have been hurrying back. I wonder if being an attorney-at-law qualifies you to practice forensic medicine? Perhaps the brush up course at Hugh Wooding Law School is sufficient to allow a person to determine cause of death. My five years of medical school wouldn’t even qualify me to make such a statement. I am ashamed of our justice system for making no effort whatsoever to investigate and find those responsible. There has been much speculation as to who could have done this cruel act. I say the answer to that is quite simple. Who stood to benefit from the death of Vic Puran and who has in fact benefited from the death of Vic Puran? No need to call the FBI, Scotland Yard, or Sherlock Holmes to solve that! I do not think that the ‘drug lords’ would seek to get rid of him. Why get rid of the best legal mind available? The government? I keep hearing that, but no. What threat was he to the government? I know that the Guyanese population has many intelligent people and they will be able to decipher who has benefited from the death of Vic Puran. I will never rest until justice is served. Our family wants the public to know that we are not idiots and we know what happened. I will keep on writing and doing whatever I can because I will not let my father’s murder remain unsolved. To quote the FBI Chief in response to the Boston bombings, ‘someone knows something’. I urge anyone with information to come forward and speak up. Let us not let a great son of our soil go unavenged. His name will live on forever in the hearts of those who loved him. Let the trumpets be sounded and the horses parade. Justice will come for Vic Puran. Mikhaila Puran