The kidnapping of Vishnu Bhim

Jul 01, 2012 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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By Michael Jordan

On the morning on November 29, 1994, eight-year-old Vishnu Bhim of Annandale, East Coast Demerara, did his chores, kissed his mom, then left for school. At around midday, his father, Heerlall Bhim, who operated his own carpentry shop, was about to enter his home when he noticed his wife sitting on the stairs. She was crying. He asked her what the matter was and she handed him a note which had been delivered by a little girl who attended their son’s school. Heerlall Bhim read the note in disbelief.
The note stated that their only son—their little boy—had been kidnapped and was being held at gunpoint. It also stated that if the Bhims wanted to see their son alive again, they were to pay one million dollars for his safe return.
Warning him not to contact other relatives or the police, the kidnappers instructed Mr. Bhim to go to a telephone booth near the Beterverwagting Police Station where he would receive further instructions.
By this time, a relative had already checked at the school Vishnu attended and confirmed that he was not there. Despite the warning, the couple informed other relatives and the police about the kidnapping.
By this time, police had an idea about the possible identity of one of the kidnappers. They learnt that on the day that he went missing, Vishnu and a girl were walking to school when a man on a bicycle stopped them.  The man offered Vishnu a lift on his bicycle and the trusting child went with him. The man was identified as 19-year-old Ravendra Deo, a resident of La Bonne Intention (LBI), East Coast Demerara.
A few days before Vishnu disappeared, Deo had come to Mr. Bhim’s home to seek work in the carpentry shop. He was given a job.
Mr. Bhim would later recall that Deo appeared to be a competent worker. However, he also observed that the new worker was constantly glancing around in a manner that aroused some suspicion.
The police checked at the suspect’s home, but he was not there. A female occupant told the policemen that Deo had given her “two muddy hard-pants” to wash before going out.
While detectives and villagers searched for the missing boy, the Bhims scraped up $300,000 to give to the kidnappers. Following the kidnappers’ earlier instructions, Mr. Bhim went to the phone booth near to the Beterverwagting Station. There, he spoke on the phone with someone who instructed him to drop off the bag containing the ransom at an area on the Beterverwagting seawall. When the worried father begged to speak with his son, he was told to “shut up.”
Informing the police about the plan, Mr. Bhim dropped off the ransom at the seawall. But though the police had reportedly staked out the area, the kidnappers somehow managed to pick up the ransom and vanish without being caught.
The following day, detectives got a break when some villagers who knew the suspect spotted him in America Street. They quickly grabbed the man and handed him over to the police. Detectives found a camera, a roll of film and $12,000 on the suspect. At first, the man denied knowing about the missing boy’s whereabouts. Finally, after several hours of questioning,  Deo confessed that he, and a man whom he identified as ‘Kresho’ of Mahaicony, had kidnapped Vishnu Bhim.
It was ‘Kresho’, he claimed, who had given him the bicycle with the bar and instructed him to kidnap the child.
Police searched the Mahaicony area for ‘Kresho’, but failed to locate him.
Eventually, just before midnight on December 1, 1994, Ravendra Deo led detectives and villagers to a secluded place on the LBI backdam. There they found the bound, gagged and battered body of eight-year-old Vishnu Bhim.  The killers had strangled the child with bits of cloth torn from his shirt. An autopsy indicated that they had murdered the boy shortly after abducting him.
Thankfully, villagers managed to dissuade the grieving parents from viewing the remains.
On December 6, 1994, a calm, gum-chewing Ravendra Deo appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, where he was charged with murder.
During the preliminary inquiry and the trial that followed, Vishnu Bhim’s parents were constantly reminded of their son’s brutal end.
Mr. Bhim recalled weeping in court when Vishnu’s schoolbag was presented as evidence.
Finally, on December 4, 1995, a jury found the accused, who was then 20, guilty of murdering Vishnu Bhim.
Justice Claudette Singh sentenced him to death.
“I am innocent,” Deo said before leaving the court.
But the verdict brought little cheer to the Bhim household.
“It took a lot of courage to go to the trial, ” Mr. Bhim told Kaieteur News a few days after the case ended.
“We shed tears almost daily. We prayed every morning for hope and strength to live on. After the verdict, we thanked God, and asked that our son’s soul rest in peace.”
But what of ‘Kresho,’ the alleged accomplice? He was never caught and to this day no one knows exactly where he is…

If you have any information about this or any other unusual case, please contact Kaieteur News by letter or telephone at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown offices. Our numbers are 22-58458, 22-58473 and 22-58465. You need not disclose your identity.

You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address [email protected].

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