RHON­DOR DOWLAT

Se­nior Re­porter

rhon­dor.dowlat@guardian.co.tt

The Hunters Search and Res­cue Team has joined the An­ti-Kid­nap­ping Squad in the search for Dr Ko­mal Ma­haraj, a 40-year-old con­sul­tant from Fe­lic­i­ty who has been miss­ing since Fri­day af­ter­noon and is be­lieved to have been kid­napped.

Ma­haraj, a res­i­dent of Ma­ha Sab­ha Street and a fa­ther of two, was last seen at Price Plaza, Ch­agua­nas, around 2 pm on Fri­day. He is be­lieved to have gone to an ATM there.

At the time of his dis­ap­pear­ance he was wear­ing jeans, a red jer­sey, and a grey hood­ie. His ve­hi­cle was found but there has been no trace of him.

In­ves­ti­ga­tors are work­ing to re­trieve sur­veil­lance footage from Price Plaza to de­ter­mine who Dr. Ma­haraj might have met, whether he was alone when he went to an ATM in the shop­ping com­plex and if he will­ing­ly en­tered an­oth­er ve­hi­cle.

Up to late yes­ter­day no ran­som de­mands had been made. His fam­i­ly are ap­peal­ing to the pub­lic for as­sis­tance, al­though they de­clined to speak with the me­dia.

Com­man­der Sham­sudeen Ayube, who is lead­ing the search by Hunters Search and Res­cue, said they were await­ing crit­i­cal in­for­ma­tion on the case in­volv­ing sur­veil­lance footage and will be guid­ed ac­cord­ing­ly.

How­ev­er, po­lice in­ves­ti­ga­tors have been tightlipped about the4 case apart from con­firm­ing that no ran­som de­mands have been made.

Ch­agua­nas West MP Di­nesh Ram­bal­ly yes­ter­day made a pub­lic ap­peal for any­one with in­for­ma­tion “no mat­ter how in­signif­i­cant it may seem, to come for­ward im­me­di­ate­ly.

“Your as­sis­tance is cru­cial in help­ing us find Dr Ma­haraj and en­sur­ing his safe re­turn,” said Ram­bal­ly, who ex­pressed pro­found con­cern over Ma­haraj’s sus­pect­ed kid­nap­ping.

The Op­po­si­tion MP added that the Fe­lic­i­ty com­mu­ni­ty was stand­ing in sol­i­dar­i­ty with Ma­haraj’s fam­i­ly and friends and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers are pray­ing for his safe re­turn.

One friend post­ed on so­cial me­dia: “A well-loved and well-re­spect­ed for­mer math teacher of Tri­mont Col­lege. Please hold Dr Ko­mal Ma­haraj up in prayer. May our Lord Je­sus Christ pro­tect him and re­turn him safe­ly to his fam­i­ly.”

Ma­haraj’s dis­ap­pear­ance is the lat­est in a se­ries of ab­duc­tions and kid­nap­pings for ran­som since late last year. It comes just days af­ter a 33-year-old Chi­nese busi­ness­man was ab­duct­ed and robbed out­side his home in Cunu­pia on Ju­ly 17.

The own­er of Jin Du Restau­rant and Bar was con­front­ed by three armed sus­pects in a black Nis­san X-trail pos­ing as po­lice of­fi­cers. They stole $17,000, his cell phone, and wal­let, then forced him in­to their ve­hi­cle. He was lat­er re­leased, and his cell phone and wal­let were re­turned.

On June 23, a 69-year-old pen­sion­er was ab­duct­ed from his home on Are­na Road by armed in­di­vid­u­als and forced him in­to a white Hyundai pick­up van . His ab­duc­tors took him to a se­clud­ed area along Siew­dass Road, Freeport, where he was re­leased.

In May, dou­bles ven­dor An­isha Singh-Ho­sein was kid­napped from her stall in El Do­ra­do and tak­en in­to the moun­tains near the Mount St Bene­dict’s Monastery be­fore be­ing re­leased. Four of her al­leged kid­nap­pers were killed in a gun­fight with po­lice.

Last De­cem­ber 29, busi­ness­woman Anee­sha Nar­ine-Boodoo was ab­duct­ed in El So­cor­ro by three men in tac­ti­cal uni­forms but was re­leased four days lat­er with­out a ran­som be­ing paid.

If you have any in­for­ma­tion on Ma­haraj’s wher­abouts is asked to con­tact the An­ti-Kid­nap­ping Unit at 623-6793;- Hunters Search and Res­cue Team at477-2031 or 340-5003 (What­sApp); or the TTPS hot­lines: 555, 999, or 800-TIPS