Was human torch murdered or did he commit suicide?

Police told Newsday yesterday they were still not sure if Seecharan had committed a particularly agonising form of suicide or if the gasolene was forcefully thrown on him by persons unknown.

It is reported that Seecharan, who was literally transformed into a human torch, ran from the canefield for about a quarter of a mile before collapsing at the home of a villager. By the time Seecharan, of Quinam Road, Siparia, reached the villager’s house, the clothes on his body had been burnt away and he writhed in agony naked on the ground as the villager threw water on him.

Barely conscious, Seecharan was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where he was treated and transferred to St Clair Medical Centre where he died yesterday. A police report stated that Roshan Pitamba, 59, was awoken around 3 am by screaming outside his house.

He emerged to see Seecharan completely covered in fire. The report stated that Pitamba doused Seecharan with water then called an EHS ambulance. When Seecharan was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital, there were no senior doctors available at the time and he was then taken to St Clair Medical Centre.

His former wife Tara Seecharan and mother Jasodra, lived at Sukhan Trace where the incident is alleged to have taken place.

Yesterday, it was a grief-stricken Sunita Ramnanan — sister of the deceased — who first came upon evidence of the horrible nature of the incident. She led police investigators to a burnt-out patch of canefield at the side of Sukhan Trace.

Ramnanan told police that around 6.20 am yesterday, she was walking along the trace when she observed the burnt patch. Upon further investigations, she discovered a container with gasolene, charred remains of her brother’s clothing, a scorched belt and a side of his shoes. She immediately contacted the Barrackpore Police Station.