‘Dem a Watch Meh’ singer treated for poisoning

Guyanese Chutney sensation Mahendra Ramkellawan, best known for his “Dem a Watch Meh” single, was on Wednesday evening rushed to the Balwant Singh Hospital to be treated for poisoning after a Chutney Concert at the Uitvlugt Community Centre Ground.

There have been reports that the man had suffered a heart attack after his concert on Boxing Night, and had to be rushed to the hospital for medical attention. However, several sources have told Stabroek News that he had suffered from poisoning. It is unclear how this occurred or what the poison was.

Mahendra Ramkellawan

Sources say that on Thursday evening, after the Concert on Wednesday night, Ramkellawan was approach-ed by two prominent businessmen who demanded payment of monies owed to them. He allegedly owed the men in excess of $1Million.

The source said that the men proceeded to take all of the earnings from the ticket sales, leaving him with no money to pay the persons he had employed to make the show a reality.

The source further stated that after this transpired, Ramkellawan fell ill from poisoning.

When Stabroek News spoke to Ramkellawan’s estranged wife yesterday, she expressed puzzlement as to why her former husband’s condition was being blamed on a heart attack. The woman stated that on Wednesday night, she received a call from her brother-in-law, who told her what had transpired. She said she was told that it was a matter of poisoning and he was taken to the hospital for treatment. She said the man even asked her if she knew what medications he was on, so that the doctors would know what to or not to give him.

The source stated that Ramkellawan had borrowed a substantial sum of money from several businessmen, and that he was still in debt to many of them.

It was a debt, the source said, that led to Ramkellawan’s car being stolen in August this year, taken to the La Repentir Cemetery and torched. His estranged wife said that she too believed that this was done by the persons her husband owed money to, but that Ramkellawan refused to believe this, and instead blamed her for orchestrating the entire thing.