Court stops murdered doctor’s cremation

A HIGH Court judge granted an injunction late Friday evening restraining relatives of murder victim Dr Ravi Maharajh from cremating his body. The cremation of Maharajh, 60, a wealthy San Fernando medical doctor and businessman, was scheduled for yesterday. However, at a sitting convened in the San Fernando High Court around 7.30 pm on Friday, Justice Peter Jamadar granted an injunction to stop the cremation to Maharajh’s common-law wife, Sumatee Enal. Enal, 37, who had been Maharajh’s common-law wife for the past 17 years, filed the injunction on Friday evening in the Court Office, San Fernando, while a “wake” was in progress at Maharajh’s Chacon Street home.

Late Friday night Marshals of the High Court served the ex-parte injunction on Maharajh’s relatives as they participated in the wake at which Hindu prayers were being said.  The injunction named common-law wife Enal as the plaintiff and named four defendants. The cremation had been scheduled for 1 pm yesterday following a funeral service at Maharajh’s Chacon Street home. Those funeral arrangements had been prominently advertised in yesterday’s daily newspapers, along with photographs of the late doctor/businessman. The lawsuit, which was argued by attorney Ernest Koylass, a former temporary judge of the High Court, restrains the defendants from causing the body of Dr Ravi Maharajh to be removed from Belgrove’s Funeral Home. It also restrained the defendants from cremating the body, entering or staying at the Chacon Street property without Enal’s permission and removing Dr Maharajh’s personal property. The injunction also states that the defendants are restrained from assaulting or molesting Enal.

The matter will be heard tomorrow before Justice Jamadar in the First Civil Court, San Fernando. Yesterday there were tents erected outside Maharajh’s Chacon Street house and a security guard was posted on the compound. The gates were locked. Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma, a cousin of Dr Maharajh, confirmed that the funeral had been postponed. “It came as a result of an order of the court. Marshals delivered the order at the home during the wake,” Sharma told Sunday Newsday. Maharajh, whose assets were estimated to be worth millions of dollars — in the vicinity of $30 million — owned properties on High Street, San Fernando, including a three-storey mall. He was also a specialist medical physician. Maharajh was beaten to death around midday Wednesday by intruders. An autopsy revealed that he suffered a broken spine and neck. Homicide detectives have not arrested anyone for the murder.