Young Hare Krishna devotee shot, critical

Feb 05, 2016 News

– had just returned from Religious function
“Pray for my brother” was the plea of a teary-eyed Nanda Gopaul Kishundyal, as devotees of the Hare Krishna Movement flocked to the outside of the Georgetown Hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit yesterday morning.

The wounded Caitanya Kishundyal

Inside the facility, nursing a gunshot wound to his abdomen, lay 21-year-old devotee Chaitanya Kishundyal. Unresponsive to treatment from medical professionals, the man was wheeled into the Accident and Emergency Unit, after which he was treated and transferred to the Intensive Care Unit. His condition is listed as critical.
On Wednesday night, Kishundyal, described as a peaceful person with no known enemies, was attacked and shot by a lone gunman as he closed his gate at Lot 28 First Street, Swamp Section, Rosehall, Corentyne.
Police are looking for the assailant who escaped after shooting the man, but the man’s brother claims that the gunman was one of four men who were at his brother’s home, based on video footage recovered after the incident.
Reports are that the Kishundyal who lives with his parents had just returned home at about 22:30hrs when tragedy struck.
Prabu Dave, head of the Hare Krishna Movement in Guyana, has since issued a call for the police to afford more security in Region Six to address the apparent growing acts of criminality being perpetrated by criminal elements.
Detailing what transpired, Nanda Gopaul Kishundyal said, “Chaitanya had just dropped home some other devotees who were all part of a religious function. When he reached home there were three suspicious-looking men close to his gate, but it was while he was closing the gate, a man who was in the yard attack he.”
A scuffle ensued then a shot went off hitting him in his midsection.
Yesterday afternoon the injured man’s brother said that based on what was seen on the video footage recovered from his brother’s house, his brother prevented what could have been a home invasion by fighting the gunman.
“It’s like the gunman and the other three were waiting to stick my brother up to get in the house, but after he put up a fight and the shot was fired, the other three ran away and the gunman followed shortly after,” the brother detailed.
While the video was not clear enough for images of faces to be collected, the older brother is adamant that “he went to a religious function and when he come back the four guys were waiting on him, and after the one open the car door and shot him in the abdomen, the three run away. Everything happened in less than a minute.” He said based on what he saw, the men were wearing masks, and they did not manage to take any of his brother’s belongings.
Describing his brother amid tears, he said he could not imagine what could have happened to him because “he is a peaceful person with no enemies.”
The man was first rushed to the Port Mourant Hospital then to New Amsterdam before ultimately being transferred to the Georgetown Hospital, where he remains unconscious. Medical professionals at the Georgetown Hospital reported that the man’s condition is critical.
“The police really need to get this crime situation under control, a lot of people are feeling unsafe and this that happen to my brother does not help,” Nanda Gopaul Kishundyal said. He said that six years ago some $200,000 in cash was stolen while the family was out.