Middleton St murder probe at standstill

Arjune Narine Singh
Arjune Narine Singh

A month has elapsed since Arjune Narine Singh was cut down in a hail of bullets at a police checkpoint at Middleton Street but to date there has been no motive for the shooting and no suspects have been identified.

Arjune Narine SinghNo official word was ever released as to whether there was an internal police probe of whether the checkpoint was properly authorized. The police force has limited its response to merely stating that there was nothing odd about the operation.

Police Public Relations Officer, Ivelaw Whittaker told Stabroek News on Monday that investigations are ongoing and that there have been no new developments. He noted that as far as he is aware the Middleton Street incident has not been taken before the Office of Professional Responsibility within the force.

Stabroek News was informed that the Office of Professional Responsibility will only address certain matters and are currently taking reports strictly limited to incidents where police officers are named in shooting matters.

On May 14 at around 9:30 pm on a narrow, poorly lit Middleton Street two police ranks; one in uniform and the other in plain clothes chose to stop a car and check documents belonging to its occupants thus creating a  traffic block due to the manner in which the uniform rank was positioned. This resulted in a back-up of two vehicles- Singh’s and Larry Gursahai who was behind Singh.

Within a few minutes of them being stalled on the road a car pulled up alongside the checkpoint, a gunman disembarked and a fusillade erupted. Singh was fatally wounded and Gursahai also sustained injuries. The uniform rank fled the scene in the injured Gursahai’s vehicle stopping for the man to exit after Gursahai refused to drive to the Kitty police station. The other rank jumped into a nearby ditch and later emerged to call for back-up.

Arjune Narine Singh’s family said on Thursday that they are still in the dark about everything surrounding his death. A relative said they have been in touch with the police and have raised many questions which to date have gone unanswered.

“The police have visited our home and asked questions about a particular person but none of us know that individual and as far as we know, he [Singh] did not know that person either”, the relative related.

According to the relative, the family has repeatedly pressed the force to find out who were the police at the checkpoint that night and what exactly they did before and after Singh was shot but got no answers. The relative expressed hope that things will come to light in time.