BK employee charged with murder

An employee attached to BK Quarries was charged with the murder of 69-year-old Pitamber Sharma when he appeared at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

Michael Sooklall appeared before Magistrate Crystal Lambert and was not required to plead to the charge; he was remanded to prison until April 27, 2022.

Sharma was strangled to death sometime between 18:00 hrs on March 30 and 07:30hrs on March 31. The incident occurred at BK Quarries in the Lower Mazaruni River. His body was later found in the Mazaruni River.

Sharma of Independence Street, La Grange, West Bank Demerara, arrived at the location at about 14:30hrs on March 30 to work as a driver.

He was assigned a living quarter in the compound and was last seen alive at about 18:00hrs.

On March 31, at about 07:30hrs, Sharma’s body was found floating in the Mazaruni River by a security guard.

The police initially reported that no marks of violence were observed on the body but a post mortem revealed that the man died as a result of manual strangulation.