SHAS­TRI BOODAN

Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Coun­cil­lor Ram­c­hand Ra­jbal Maraj was robbed at gun­point on Thurs­day morn­ing.

Ra­jbal Maraj, who is 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 came to his home at Rowan Street, Bal­main Cou­va around 9:30 am.

Ra­jbal Maraj, who al­so is a Jus­tice of the Peace, said the man came to see him in this ca­pac­i­ty.

“I was leav­ing home to go to a meet­ing at the Cor­po­ra­tion and as I opened the gate, this guy came in, very well dressed and told me want­ed to get a WASA cer­tifi­cate stamped,” Ra­jbal Maraj told Guardian Me­dia.

“He was ful­ly well clothed, jack­et and tie, with a ras­ta-look­ing hair­style. While talk­ing to me he pulled gun and said go to the back. While at the back he bound my hands and put a 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,” the lo­cal gov­ern­ment of­fi­cial re­count­ed.

The house of Ramchand Rajbal Maraj where he was robbed on Thursday 8 December 2022. He is the Local government councillor for Carli Bay/California on the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation. [Image by SHASTRI BOODAN]

Ra­jbal said the gun­man ran­sacked his home and made off with a quan­ti­ty of jew­ellery and cash be­fore steal­ing Ra­jbal Maraj’s Toy­ota Hilux. Ra­jbal Maraj said the po­lice re­spond­ed in the quick­est pos­si­ble time.

The lo­cal gov­ern­ment coun­cil­lor re­called that in 2021, his ve­hi­cle was bro­ken in­to while it was parked at the of­fice of the Cou­va South MP, and he was al­so robbed at home in 2020.

Cou­va South MP Rudranath In­dars­ingh said the past week has seen a spike in the crime rate in Cou­va.

MP In­dars­ingh said it was on Mon­day this week that two men were mur­dered, and their bod­ies found off Rivulet Road, while on Wednes­day night there were two rob­beries and one home in­va­sion at Dow Vil­lage, Cal­i­for­nia.

“The Gov­ern­ment needs to go back to the peo­ple and seek a fresh man­date, let the peo­ple speak,” the Cou­va South MP as­serts.

“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,” MP In­dars­ingh added.