Durban - As a cloud of mystery cloaks the whereabouts of Rajiv Narandas, the convicted murderer’s mother late on Sunday night changed her WhatsApp status to “Don’t cry for me.. I’m in Argentina”.
And her profile picture on the messenger service was one of a Sunday Tribune poster from on Sunday, which read, “Where is Rajiv?”
When Narandas appeared in court earlier this year on intimidation charges, the State went on record, saying it was opposing bail in the light of information it had received that he planned to skip the country.
If Narandas were to flee to Argentina, getting him back to South Africa might prove a challenge.
According to the Department of Justice’s website, the two countries have signed extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties, but they have not yet been ratified.
At 7am on Monday, Narandas’s mother, Rosanne, told the Daily News she was asleep and that we could call again later, before putting the phone down.
But the family and friends of Veenand Singh - the man her son murdered - want answers, and they want them now.
“What the hell is going on?” Basantha Sannasy asked on Sunday.
Singh, whom Narandas stabbed to death outside a Sandton nightclub in 2008, was Sannasy’s partner.
“I’m highly irritated, I don’t understand how they could have lost a convict,” Sannasy told the Daily News.
The past few weeks have been something of a roller coaster for Sannasy and Singh’s family.
Earlier this month, Narandas was granted R100 000 bail in the Johannesburg High Court pending the outcome of an application to appeal against his conviction and sentence in the Constitutional Court.
Then last week, his application was dismissed, with the court saying it bore “no prospect of success” and he was ordered to report to Westville Prison to start serving his 15-year term.
Sannasy and the Singh family reacted to this news with joy.
This was, however, short-lived.
Narandas had apparently been “on his way” to report to prison when he was admitted to Life Westville Hospital, where his mother said he underwent surgery that she speculated could have been for the hernias and ulcers he apparently suffers from.
He subsequently missed his deadline to report to prison.
A warrant of arrest was issued late last week and on Saturday, his mother told the Daily News’s sister paper, the Sunday Tribune, that police had fetched her son from their Westville home earlier that day.
But sources close to the investigation said on Monday morning that, to their knowledge, no arrest had been made and that police were struggling to trace Narandas.
According to Correctional Services officials, Narandas had not arrived at Westville Prison by 11am on Monday.
Narandas’s lawyer, Cliff Alexander, said he had not heard from his client since Friday and that he was not answering his phone.
“I don’t know where he is, I can’t comment... Other than that should Narandas not abide by conditions, there are consequences,” Alexander said.
When the Daily News tried to contact Narandas at the weekend, his phone rang, but no one answered.
“They (the authorities) should have had someone guarding him in hospital,” Sannasy said on Sunday.
She said she and the family were “completely in the dark” now and had no clue about what has going on.
Sannasy had been in a relationship with Singh for 13 years when he died and she described him as her “soulmate”.
She was left traumatised and has been in and out of hospital since Narandas stabbed Singh while she was present.
On Monday morning, Gauteng police spokesman, Colonel Noxolo Kweza, refused to comment on the matter, saying it was up to the Department of Correctional Services to deal with it.
Correctional Services, however, said Narandas was the responsibility of the National Prosecuting Authority whose spokesman, Luvuyo Mfaku, has, in turn, pinned responsibility on the police.
Daily News