Chaitram Gayah was a well-known auto parts dealer of San Fernando. But he was also well connected to the underworld. He knew people and did shady things. He knew Dole Chadee, but no one can confirm that he had a business relationship with the Piparo king. Gayah was charged with murder, but all the witnesses ended up dead and he was freed. One month later, Gayah went missing and was never found again.
He was last seen on June 24, 1994, when he left his La Romaine home with one Vishnudath Sharma, also called Vishram Sharma. His wife saw him off, he was going to Maraval to conduct a business deal. He was involved in the sale of spare parts and/or vehicles. Gayah left his home around 10 am with Sharma, who lived at Mon Stewart Village, Princes Town. They were going to meet Imran Ali, a notorious criminal who was once charged with the murder of Port-of-Spain jeweller, Surindra Maraj. Ali agreed to meet Gayah and Sharma at KFC, Maraval. No one can say with certainty if Gayah met Ali in Maraval. One thing is certain, Gayah and Sharma were never seen again. No one can say if Ali had anything to do with the disappearance of the two men.
Investigators said that Gayah had sold 19 cars to Ali. He was never paid for the cars, so he decided to go to Maraval and try to get $250,000 from Ali. On the morning he disappeared, Gayah, 36, told his wife he was going to collect the money which was owed to him. He left home driving his white Mazda, PAY 1202. When he did not return later that day, his wife reported him missing. Police launched a massive search for Gayah and Sharma, but they were never found. There were reports that Gayah went to Brazil to escape the clutches of underworld characters, but the police dispelled that, saying that Gayah was killed and buried somewhere.
They cannot question Ali, because he was killed in a shoot-out with the police a few years ago. Ali was one of four men charged with the murder of the jeweller. They were found guilty and sentenced to death, but later freed on a technicality, not because of the lack of evidence. Ali came out of jail and according to the police, he had a hand in the murder of former attorney general Selwyn Richardson, outside his Cascade home on June 20, 1995. Police say Ali became a nuisance and was involved in kidnappings when he was killed in the shoot-out.
The man Gayah
Gayah was also known as Crishan Gayah and Chaitram Ramkissoon.
Gayah and one Leslie Ross were charged with the murder of Steve "Creamy" Tannis in 1982. It was alleged that Tannis and other men set out in a pirogue for the Gulf of Paria. The boat returned hours later without Tannis. It was alleged that he was killed and his body dumped at sea. The body was never found. The preliminary inquiry was held before Magistrate Basdeo Mulchan in the Point Fortin District Court. At the end of the inquiry, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, and Gerald Stewart, representing Gayah, and Desmond Allum, SC, appearing for Ross, made a no-case submission. The magistrate upheld the submission and Gayah and Ross were freed on August 19, 1986.
This case was mentioned in the controversial Scott Drug Report which was leaked in 1987. After his acquittal, Gayah left Trinidad and stayed away for several years. During this time, several of the prosecution witnesses, who had given evidence against him, had died. The only living witness was Senior Supt Mayhew Alleyne, then head of the Homicide Bureau.
Rearrested seven years later
Gayah eventually returned to Trinidad. In 1994, He was arrested at a house in San Fernando on a judge's warrant and ordered to stand trial at the San Fernando Assizes on the same charge of murdering Tannis. He was sent to the Port-of-Spain State Prison to await his trial. The case was called before Justice Harold Koylass in the Port-of-Spain High Court in May 1994, around the same time, the police arrested Chadee and nine members of his gang for the murders of four members of a Williamsville family. But the trial did not last long. Mark Mohammed, who was then a state attorney, tendered death certificates for five people, all prosecution witnesses.
�2 Witness David Tannis was shot and killed on November 6, 1992, at Blitz Village, Pleasantville. n Witness Eddie Johnson was shot and killed on January 20, 1992, at Poona Road, Williamsville.
�2 Witness Adolphus Lewis died of natural causes on April 16, 1988.
�2 Co-accused Leslie Ross drowned on June 8, 1992.
�2 Witness Steve Niamath was shot at his home on October 8, 1989, and died ten days later at hospital.
Mohammed, now a judge, called Supt Alleyne to give details about the witnesses. After Alleyne completed his evidence, Mohammed threw in the towel, and for the second time, Gayah was freed. That was on May 24, 1994. Mohammed said based on instructions, the warrant could not have been executed on Gayah because he was in Panama. But Maharaj denied this, saying his client was operating his business in San Fernando. On August 2, 1994, the charred remains of a body were found at Tasker Road, Barrackpore. Police thought it could have been Gayah's. It turned out to be someone else.
The mystery continued, and Gayah remains at large. In 2003, nine years after they disappeared, the wives of both Gayah and Sharma, applied to the High Court for letters of administration for both men. They have now been declared legally dead. But what really happened to Gayah and Sharma?
