Shayraz Raghoo was shot because she held on to the bag that contained money, a licensed gun and important documents during the attack that claimed her husband’s life on Monday afternoon, relatives say.

Businessman Ashok Raghoo was fatally shot in the attack, which occurred when the couple stopped in their vehicle at the traffic light in front of the Botanical Gardens. Two men on a CG motorbike rolled up on the driver’s side of the vehicle and one of the men fired a shot inside.

Ashok, 43, was later pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), while Shayraz, 49, remains an admitted patient at the hospital, where she is nursing a gunshot wound to right thigh.

Although relatives told Stabroek News that they wish to withhold any further comment until the police conclude their investigations, they did say that Shayraz was shot after she grabbed the bag from the bandit. A relative added that unlike what is being “peddled” in a print media, Ashok was not the owner of a dredge. “That would indicate that these they own millions,” the irate man declared, adding that the family lost all the money they had during the robbery as well as a licensed firearm, birth certificates for the dead man’s daughters, passports and business documents. Additionally, the relative said that the police took a statement from Shayraz yesterday at the GPH.

The couple were said to have been on their way to pay bills and their employees, as they normally did, when they were approached at the traffic light, shot at and robbed by the two bandits. Eyewitnesses had related to this newspaper that the Raghoo’s car had been heading south along Vlissengen Road, when it stopped at the traffic light in front of the Botanical Gardens and the attack occurred.

“We hear the shots and then we hear the woman screaming; is that alerted us. We ran out but by that time the guys were already gone,” one eyewitness related to this newspaper. The bandits reportedly escaped north along Vlissengen Road with the dead man’s licensed firearm and ammunition.

Two persons were subsequently held for questioning. One man is still in custody assisting the police with their investigations, this newspaper was told yesterday.