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Cops, widow seek to solve mystery of husband’s missing’ body
-DNA results reportedly indicate corpse isn’t his
By Michael Jordan
It began with a fatal accident, then a burial mix-up, followed by an exhumation to identify the victim.
Now, the baffling case involving the December 2016 death of fisherman Surujpaul Dindyal has taken an even more puzzling turn that has sparked a police investigation.
Dindyal’s widow, Karen Bisal, says that DNA ((Deoxyribonucleic acid)) results that police received recently indicate that the corpse that was identified was not his.
Acting Crime Chief Michael Kingston confirmed yesterday that Dindyal’s widow has filed a complaint with him and the matter is being investigated.
“I need to know where my husband’s body is,” says a frustrated Karen Bisal, who is struggling to provide for her 13-year-old son and daughter, who is eight.
Accident victim Surujpaul Dindyal
“I need closure. I have been seeking closure for three years now.”
Dindyal, a fisherman, died on December 9, 2016, after he was struck by a vehicle near Buxton, East Coast Demerara.
He was unidentified at the time, and his body was placed in the Georgetown Public Hospital Mortuary. The following day, Dindyal’s untagged remains were removed from a freezer at the mortuary and buried at Good Hope Cemetery, along with four other bodies believed to be destitutes.
Vidyawattie Barrat, the victim’s sister, had told Kaieteur News that she had made enquiries at the GPHC Mortuary on December 22, 2016. She was accompanied by four police officers. Mortuary staffers reportedly told her that there was no record of her brother’s body being there. However, on returning the following day, she was informed that her brother’s body had indeed been brought to the GPHC Mortuary.
A mortuary attendant allegedly revealed that her brother’s body had been mistakenly buried, since mortuary staffers thought he was someone else.
Barrat’s body was eventually exhumed in January 2017. Although the corpse had begun to decompose, the sister said she was unable to identify her sibling by a tattoo on his chest, and a surgical scar on his upper body. DNA samples were collected from the body and from a brother of the dead man.
Police sources had stated that a postmortem showed that the victim’s injuries were consistent with those from a vehicular accident. The victim had suffered a broken neck and shoulder.
The wife alleged that the police stated that they had sent the DNA samples to Trinidad and Brazil.
After several months passed with police not contacting them, the widow, Karen Bisal, said she contacted investigators. Around January 2019, she was told that police had sent DNA samples to Florida, USA.
When she checked some two weeks ago, she was told that the results “were negative,” reportedly indicating that the body was not her husband’s.
Prior to this, the driver who allegedly struck down and killed her husband was charged.
Mrs. Bisal said the case was recently dismissed owing to a lack of evidence, and the absence of DNA results.
Meanwhile, the remains that may or may not be those of fisherman Surujpaul Dindyal, remain unclaimed, and reportedly stored in a city mortuary.
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