Police have charged two Schenectadians and a man from Queens with killing Ganesh Ramgoolam on Saturday morning.
Officers have not announced any motive but said all three men shot Ramgoolam as he stood outside 948 Maple Ave. They were not fighting over drugs, Sgt. Luciano Savoia said.
“None of the investigation has led to anything to do with drugs,” he said. “This is not a drug-related incident.”
A motive will not be announced until detectives finish interviewing two more people, he said.
One of the accused men lives at 935 Maple Ave., which is several houses away and across the street from where Ramgoolam died. Police raided that house on Sunday night and found two of the three men they have now arrested on murder charges.
The third man was not at the home, but detectives quickly found him and placed him under surveillance, Savoia said.
When he was seen entering a taxicab on Monday, police pulled the cab over and arrested him.
Late Monday, all three arrests were announced. Police said Dhanashar Persaud, 26, of 23 Moyston St.; Vishan A. Parbhudial, 23, of 935 Maple Ave.; and Richard T. Baliraj, 21, of 104-25-11 4th St., Queens, were all charged with murder.
Parbhudial and Baliraj were found at 935 Maple Ave. on Sunday night when police raided the house, Savoia said. Persaud was arrested during the taxicab traffic stop.
Savoia said interviews with neighbors and witnesses led police to the three men.
“Just good, basic police work,” he said. “Interviewing neighbors, confirming their stories.”
Ramgoolam’s family also cooperated with police.
Ramgoolam was killed around 2 a.m. Saturday on his way home from a party for a friend who had just bought a house on Lincoln Avenue. The car in which he was riding stopped on Maple Avenue, although that was not on his way home. Police have not said why Ramgoolam was there, and family and friends said he had no reason to be there.
He got out of the car and was shot five times in the upper body, including his head, police said.
It was the first killing of the year in Schenectady.
The next day, police raided 935 Maple Ave. and were shot at — the first time that has occurred in more than a decade.
Police charged Adrian Parbhudial, 24, with shooting at two officers. It’s not clear if or how he is related to alleged killer Vishan Parbhudial, 23, but both live at the same house.
Categories: Schenectady County
