RHON­DOR DOWLAT

Se­nior Re­porter

rhon­dor.dowlat@guardian.co.tt

Spe­cial prayers are be­ing of­fered for the safe re­turn of Dr Ko­mal Ma­haraj, a 40-year-old con­sul­tant and for­mer school teacher who has been miss­ing since Fri­day.

The Fe­lic­i­ty com­mu­ni­ty has unit­ed in an out­pour­ing of sup­port, hop­ing for a pos­i­tive res­o­lu­tion to this dis­tress­ing sit­u­a­tion. Ma­haraj, last seen at Price Plaza, Ch­agua­nas, has left his fam­i­ly and friends deeply con­cerned for his safe­ty. Ma­haraj, a 40-year-old con­sul­tant, has been miss­ing since Fri­day. A for­mer school teacher and res­i­dent of Ma­ha Sab­ha Road, Fe­lic­i­ty, Ma­haraj was last seen at Price Plaza, Ch­agua­nas, around 2 pm.

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

Fam­i­ly mem­bers are deeply con­cerned and are ap­peal­ing to the pub­lic for any in­for­ma­tion that could lead to Ma­haraj’s safe re­turn. The com­mu­ni­ty has ral­lied around the fam­i­ly, of­fer­ing sup­port and or­gan­is­ing prayer ses­sions in hopes of a pos­i­tive out­come.

Ch­agua­nas West MP Di­nesh Ram­bal­ly said, “I have known the Ma­haraj fam­i­ly for many years; they are de­vout­ly re­li­gious in­di­vid­u­als. My thoughts are with them, es­pe­cial­ly as to­day marks the start of Shra­van and Gu­ru Purn­i­ma in Hin­duism. Mr Ko­mal Ma­haraj’s fa­ther is a prac­tic­ing Hin­du priest. This morn­ing, I of­fered prayers ded­i­cat­ed to Lord Shi­va, hop­ing for the safe re­turn of Mr Ma­haraj,” Ram­bal­ly said.

He added that dis­cus­sions with the Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al of the Sanatan Dhar­ma Ma­ha Sab­ha in­di­cate com­mu­nal wor­ship dur­ing Shra­van to ap­peal for con­trol over neg­a­tive forces in so­ci­ety, aim­ing to bring the com­mu­ni­ty to­geth­er through prayers.

Ex­press­ing the com­mu­ni­ty’s col­lec­tive con­cern and sol­i­dar­i­ty, he said, “Mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty, not on­ly Ch­agua­nas West con­stituents but al­so be­yond, are hold­ing prayers and sup­port­ing this fam­i­ly. Mr Ko­mal Ma­haraj went miss­ing, and while I can’t re­lease spe­cif­ic in­for­ma­tion, the com­mu­ni­ty stands with them. Peo­ple are com­ing to­geth­er to push back against crim­i­nal el­e­ments and the un­to­ward ac­tiv­i­ties af­fect­ing law-abid­ing cit­i­zens.”

Ram­bal­ly al­so high­light­ed the height­ened sense of fear among con­stituents, who are tak­ing ex­tra pre­cau­tions, par­tic­u­lar­ly for their chil­dren’s safe­ty dur­ing the school va­ca­tion.

The surge in crime in Ch­agua­nas West has been alarm­ing, with in­ci­dents in­clud­ing a re­cent rob­bery on Beu­j­cal Road and a home in­va­sion where two in­di­vid­u­als were shot.

AKU, Hunters team

still in­ves­ti­gat­ing

Of­fi­cers from the An­ti-Kid­nap­ping Unit and the Hunters Search and Res­cue Team said they are still in­ves­ti­gat­ing and are yet to con­clude if Ma­haraj was kid­napped or miss­ing. The of­fi­cers said they are search­ing sev­er­al ar­eas, as­sist­ed by the Hunters team led by Com­man­der Sham­sudeen Ayube.

Au­thor­i­ties are urg­ing any­one with in­for­ma­tion to con­tact the An­ti-Kid­nap­ping Unit at 623-6793, the Hunters Search and Res­cue Team at 477-2031 or 340-5003 (What­sApp), or the po­lice hot­lines at 555, 999, or 800 TIPS.