Pasta proprietress kidnapped

Vanessa Sookhai, 38, of Orange Grove Road, Trincity, was driving her Mazda 323 car at about 6 am with her 62-year-old father, Harry Sookhai, when she noticed that a log had been placed across the road.

Sookhai got out of the vehicle and was accosted by three men who forced her back into the car at gunpoint. Her father was thrown out of the vehicle.

A report was made to the Caroni Police Station and a search for the kidnapped woman was undertaken.

Not long after the woman’s abduction, the car was found in Kelly Village, Caroni. The vehicle was dusted for fingerprints.

At the scene of the kidnapping, residents of Frederick Settlement expressed shock and outrage over the kidnapping.

They said they never expected anyone in their village to be kidnapped.

A party of officers from the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS) led by Sgt Joseph Isaac visited the crime scene.

At the Jo-Sing Pasta Company, the factory was open for business but employees were heard discussing Sookhai’s abduction.

At Orange Grove Road, Trincity, where Sookhai resides, relatives gathered at the house to lend support to each other.

Relatives refused to be interviewed, saying it was a private matter and that they wanted no publicity.

Sookhai, formerly Singh, was married to Rajendranath Singh, the eldest son of local pasta mogul Joe Singh. On April 24, 2001, Rajendranath committed suicide by shooting himself in the head at the Pleasure Zone Restaurant and Bar.

After his death, his wife took control of Jo-Sing Pasta Company. This caused a rift between Singh and relatives of her dead husband.

Singh’s brother, BWIA pilot Khemchan Singh, was shot dead by an intruder at his home years ago.

Glen Ashby, who was found guilty of that murder, was hanged.