Narandas fighting fit for jail life

Rajiv Narandas will be looking to help inmates get fit and healthy, as he plans to donate all of his gym equipment to the prison where he is due to spend the next 15 years.

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Durban - Convicted murderer and Durban socialite Rajiv Narandas will be looking to help incarcerated inmates get fit and healthy, as he plans to donate all of his gym equipment to the prison where he is due to spend the next 15 years behind bars.

While the debacle regarding the whereabouts of Narandas ended on Friday, after it was confirmed by police that he had been collected by them in Durban and taken to holding cells in Gauteng while his necessary paperwork was being finalised, his mother, Rosanne, said her son had prepared himself for life behind bars.

“Rajiv plans to donate all his gym equipment to the prison. He has a fully equipped gym, expensive bikes and table-tennis equipment. In the recent weeks he spent in prison, he spoke to some of the older men and started training them.

“He managed to get prisoners who were demotivated and who had lost hope in life to see how they could improve themselves and their health.

“When he came back to Durban, he said he wanted to create something positive with his time, and he has already sent me photographs of the gym equipment he wants to donate,” said Rosanne.

She added that her son had also taken 30 books from the Divine Life Society to share with fellow prisoners.

“Rajiv has always been a very generous person, and we know that this is a phase of his life that will bring good to others as well as to him.”

Over the last week, there was massive media speculation as to the whereabouts of Rajiv Narandas, after he failed to report to the prison following the rejection of his Constitutional Court application to appeal his conviction and sentence for the stabbing of Veenand Singh outside a Joburg nightclub in 2008.

He was admitted to Westville Hospital, but was then discharged and went home.

Rosanne said that while he was at home the police, her son’s advocate and Hawks members tasked with the matter â”were fully aware of where Rajiv was”. It was owing to documentation issues that her son’s admittance to prison had been delayed.

Last night she also spoke about the hate mail and threats, as well as personal attacks on her as a parent, that she had received on social media.

“These people have never set eyes on me (or Rajiv), have never been in my home, and know absolutely nothing about me personally, yet they comment as though they are authorities on my life and my parenting.

“I lost a son 18 months ago, and I do know what that pain feels like, and I will live with that for the rest of my life.

“Rajiv being away has created an emptiness for my husband and I, but I am more determined than ever to ensure that he remains positive and engages in constructive projects that will benefit him.”

Singh’s mother, Ishara, on Friday told The Independent on Saturday’s sister paper, the Daily News, that she did not wish to comment on the matter, save to say she was happy Narandas was finally in custody.

Basantha Sannasy, Singh’s partner at the time of his death, said she was â ”relieved that the drama” was over.

She hoped Narandas would have to serve the full 15 years of his sentence.

Independent on Saturday