Concern mounted yesterday about the fate of missing taxi driver Ramlall Lakha, called Vishal, after the shell of the car he was driving on the day he disappeared was found at Timehri.

The remains of the AT 103 Carina, HB 2839, were found at around noon yesterday, after a 14-man search party, which included the owner of the vehicle and Lakha's relatives, scoured a jungle-like area behind the Timehri racing circuit.

The vehicle had been stripped of all of its parts, and what appeared to be bloodstains were clearly visible in the back seat.

Lakha's driver's license, a white cap he usually wore, part of the vehicle's number plate, and a cushion from the car were also found.

Police later took the vehicle to the Timehri Police Station.

Yesterday, the missing man's father, Rudolph Lakha, said that he is now convinced that his 22-year-old son has been murdered.

“When I see the car I say me son done dead and that they throw he out (somewhere),” he told Kaieteur News.

Since his son's disappearance on January 27 last, Mr. Lakha has been following every lead about the youth's whereabouts, mounting searches in Linden and on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway .

Last week, the father and others began to focus on the area behind the Timehri racing circuit after the owner of the car, Sean Sulka, received information on Monday that “a red car” had been abandoned there.

Sulka said he relayed this information to the Timehri police, and they accompanied him to the circuit but saw no sign of the vehicle.

Undaunted, the owner of the car and two friends mounted a daily search of the area.

On Friday, they decided to venture down a track leading to the jungle-like terrain behind the circuit.

“I began to see (scraps of) paper, CDs, and further down the track I saw the number plate and the logo of the car, marked ‘Travis', which had been torn off,” the owner said.

Shortly after, they found the driver's cap and a cushion that the youth would sit on while driving to make up for his small stature.

After turning the items over to the police and informing Lakha's relatives of the find, he and 13 others, including the missing youth's father, returned to the area yesterday.

At around midday, they eventually located the shell of the vehicle and Lakha's driver's licence about a mile from the area where the first items were found.

Members of the search party said they also saw a few spares belonging to other vehicles, leading them to speculate that the area was a haven for car thieves.

Mr. Lakha believes that police should now mount a massive search in the area, since it is possible that his son was slain and buried there.

Ramlall Lakha, of Le Resouvenir, East Coast Demerara, was reportedly last seen at around 14:00hrs on January 27. According to reports, he was seen heading across the Demerara Harbour Bridge after picking up three passengers.

According to his father, Lakha had dropped off his wife at work and was heading to the Stelling area where he worked.

Lakha's colleagues recalled that shortly after he was hired by two men and a woman, he indicated that he was going across the river.

Another taxi driver, who was the last person to see Lakha, reported crossing paths with the missing driver on the Harbour Bridge .

The father said roadblocks were held and checks were made on the East Coast of Demerara and along the Linden Highway .

The taxi driver, who was wearing a white ‘Guess' jersey and blue sweat pants, is about five feet tall.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts can contact his father on telephone numbers, 263-5332, 263-5338 or 621-8243 and his wife on 220-1356 or 628-6356, or the nearest police station.

Sunday 02-26-2006