Local Government councillor Ramchand Rajbal Maraj was robbed at gunpoint yesterday morning. Rajbal Maraj, the councillor for Carli Bay/California on the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation, said he was robbed by a well-dressed man with a Rastafarian hairstyle who arrived at his home at Rowan Street, Balmain, Couva, around 9.30 am.
Rajbal Maraj, who is also a Justice of the Peace, said the man came to see him in this capacity as a JP.
“I was leaving home to go to a meeting at the corporation. As I opened the gate this guy came in, very well dressed and told me he wanted to get a WASA certificate stamped. He was fully well clothed, jacket and tie, with a rasta-looking hairstyle. While talking to me, he pulled a gun and said go to the back.
While at the back he bound my hands and put cloth in my mouth. He came back and said let’s go upstairs, I told him that I would comply once he did not interfere with my wife, who was home.”
Maharaj said the gunman ransacked his home and made off with jewellery and cash before stealing Maraj’s Toyota Hilux.
Maraj said the police responded in the quickest possible time.
Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh said the last week has seen a spike in the crime rate in Couva.
He said it was only on Monday that two men were murdered and their bodies found off Rivulet Road.
He said on Wednesday night there were also two robberies and one home invasion at Dow Village California.
He said, “The Government needs to go back to the people and seek a fresh mandate, let the people speak. I expect the murder rate to cross 650 for 2022. Crime is becoming unbearable and the government has demonstrated its incompetence when it comes to crime fighting.”
