Lecturer mourns IT student who sent email hours before shooting death

MORE than a dozen police officers on motorbikes and in police vehicles escorted the body of 25-year-old murdered victim Charan Dev Singh from San Francisco Settlement, Chickland Road, Freeport to the Waterloo Cremation Site on Saturday. Singh was the son of retired policeman Mathura Singh and Tara Singh.

As early as 8.30 am, Sanskrit mantras (prayer verses) echoed through the village as pundits prayed at the funeral held at the family home. Pundit Amar Seepersad said Singh was a brilliant young man who excelled as an information technology analyst with the Guardian Group.

“The state of the country today is really sad as we are no match for the criminals and it seems that even the State is no match for the criminals,” he said. Seepersad urged families to foster stronger bonds as one can never be sure what tomorrow may bring.

Professor Gour Saha, of the Arthur Lok Jack Graduate School of Business, said he received an email from Singh enquiring about practical exams hours before he was murdered last Wednesday.

"He was thankful to me for arranging a supervisor for him to complete his studies," Saha said. One can imagine how I felt when I realised he was gone. I became very emotional as I felt as if I had lost my own. He was a brilliant young man who knew everything about computer technology and who would fix a problem in seconds. I was amazed at his abilities myself,” he said. Singh was a student of business intelligence and data analytics. “He finished his post work and he (was) now in the stage of writing his thesis in practicum. It is really a sad day for us that he had to leave us at this age,” Saha said.

In the eulogy, Dr Vishall Bahall, a Florida resident, said Singh, his cousin, touched their lives in many ways. “I remember playing with him as a child at my grandparents’ home and it is beyond sad to bid farewell to him now,” he said.

Caroni Central MP Dr Bhoe Tewarie said Mathura Singh had given so much of his life to law and order and now he lost his son to lawlessness. “This son of Freeport was a brilliant individual, a spark ready to light up in the world and his life was snuffed out,” he said.

He said 77 murders have taken place so far, and, thousands were killed over the last decade.

“If out fear of living life, a significant amount of people were to migrate you lose that talent either by crime or by migration then what will be the future of the country?” Tewarie asked. When a government comes into power, he said it is their responsibility to look after the security and safety of its citizens. “The Police Commissioner is responsible. The Minister of National Security is responsible. We must do what it takes to ensure that this country is not depleted of its talent either by gun or by migration,” he said.

Singh was shot in the chest at his neighbour’s home, around 8.50 pm on Wednesday, but died at the Couva District Health Facility. Police said Singh, his father, neighbour Mary Ann Edmund and her brother-in-law, Michael Geoffrey, were standing in front of Edmund’s parlour after he helped review some CCTV footage.

Two masked gunmen announced a hold-up and ordered them to lie on the ground. Mathura drew his personal Sig Sauer 9-millimetre gun and fired one shot, which police believed struck one of the bandits. The gunmen fired and shot Singh. Central Division police are continuing investigations.