(TrinidadGuardian) Hours before she said final goodbyes to her parents who died in a tragic murder/suicide in Couva, 20-year-old Anita Balkaran was detained by Chaguanas Police on Tuesday night because she had no official documents to live inTrinidad.
The detention sparked the fury of Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh who related the story at the couple’s funeral service at their Teelucksingh Trace East, California, home on Wednesday. Indarsingh said Balkaran had gone to the Chaguanas Police Station to get an affidavit and some official paperwork done to facilitate her parents’ funeral. However, instead of helping her, the police officers began asking questions about whether she had official residency.
Indarsingh said she informed them she had married a Trinidad citizen, but the officers proceeded to detain her for two hours.
It was only when Indarsingh called ACP Fitzroy Frederick for assistance that she was released. The young woman was too distraught to speak and spent the entire funeral being consoled by relatives. Her sisters—Babita and Usha—and her brother Monoswar also were inconsolable as they gazed at the bodies of their father Arjoon Balkaran and mother Sohanie Ramsundar. While Balkaran appeared to be asleep, Ramsundar’s face bore signs of her brutal slaying.
There were chop wounds across her chin and her eyes appeared sunken into her thin face. Balkaran’s brother, Navindra, his mother, Bernice Dwarika, and sister, Indrawattie Chandrepaul flew in from Guyana for the funeral. Navindra said on Tuesday when he came to Trinidad, he was detained for two hours by immigration officials, even though he had his paperwork.
Pastor Rattan George prayed for the children, while parishioner Harrynarine Mungal brought tears to the eyes of mourners as he sang hymns. The bodies were taken to the Waterloo cremation site. Balkaran, a former Petrotrin contractor who came to Trinidad to live 12 years ago, slit Ramsundar’s throat after an argument on Thursday. He then climbed a mango tree, wrapped a nylon cord around his neck, before jumping off.
