Body of missing Debe man found in pond near home

A six-day search for missing Karamchan Munilal ended on Saturday morning, with his body being found in a pond just about 100 feet from his home.

Munilal, 38, of Siew Trace, Transfer Village, Debe, is believed to have drowned, but police have not yet ruled out foul play.

The discovery was made by the Hunters Search and Rescue Team, Vallence Rambharat, a member, confirmed.

Rambharat told Newsday Munilal’s brother Adesh contacted them to assist with the search

He explained Munilal was an addict who often "tripped off" when he used cocaine.

“We were told he a recovering addict, on and off the drugs. When he was off he was well behaved, but once he started using the cocaine he would get hysterical.

“On January 31, after getting a fix, he stripped himself naked and ran towards the Oropouche River.”

The river runs adjacent to the family’s home and it was there, in the waters and around its banks, the family concentrated their search for several days.

Rambharat said having been involved in the search for the body of a man who drowned in San Souci, they were only able to respond to the Munilal family’s request on Saturday.

He said Munilal was the sixth search and rescue operation his group has been involved in for the year. With the exception of the two drownings, he said the other four, including the rescued hiker from the Chaguaramas area, are alive.

“When we got there, we immediately started the search of a pond about 100 feet behind their home. It was here the body was discovered.”

Rambharat said he could not speculate whether Munilal drowned. He could not say either if there were marks of violence as the body would have been in a state of decomposition.

Barrackpore police is continuing investigations.