Police have denied a female relative is being questioned in connection with the murder of Carapichaima accountant Neeshad Ali.

They were responding to a report in yesterday's Newsday, which quoted a senior investigator as saying the relative was assisting the police with their investigations.

An officer said the main suspects were two men Ali had earlier hired to do a paint job at his residence.

Those two suspects, police said, were among six persons in custody. Four of the suspects are males and the other two, females. The female suspects, police said, were the wives of the two painters, who all live in the Carapichaima district.

The other two male suspects are from Marabella. Officers said the men got involved in the incident after Ali was killed, and Ali's wife, Lila, was forced to drive her car to Marabella before it was abandoned by the suspects.

Lila, a police source said, was being kept in protective custody. Her daughter, Aleya,was placed in the care of relatives on Monday night.

"She (Lila) is being kept at a very safe place for fear that persons, who may still be at large, may want to kill her since she's the main witness," a homicide officer told the Express.

Ali's father, Shan, said yesterday, close to $30,000 in jewelry, among other items, were stolen from the house.

"Neeshad had to pay some workmen for doing work on the house the day before, and I believe they (two painters), one who is well-known to us because he did work for another relative in the area before, thought he (Neeshad) had money, but he did not.

"That's why they finished him off downstairs and went upstairs and snatch Lila and the baby and packed things they stole in the trunk of the car and left," Shan said.

Jewelry, electronics and household items which were taken from Ali's home were recovered at a house on Orange Field Road in Carapichaima where police found Lila and her daughter on Sunday evening, hours after they were snatched.

At the time of the arrest of the female suspects, police said they were wearing jewelry stolen from Ali's house. There were 11 other persons in that house, five of them children, police said.

The kidnappers had demanded a $100,000 ransom from Ali's mother, Carol Lee Ahyen, but no money was paid. The men told Lee Ahyen they knew her entire family and warned her about getting the police involved.

Investigators were, up to late yesterday, recording statements and interviewing the six suspects. The two painters, police said, would soon face charges of murder, kidnapping and robbery while the other suspects may face charges of accessory to the crimes.

They are expected to be placed on several identification parades before investigators approach Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Joan Honore-Paul for directives in the matter.

Heading the investigation is acting Senior Supt David Abraham, with the assistance of ASPs Jayson Forde, Stephen Maynard and Sgts Aldric Neptune and Peter Ramdeen of the Homicide Bureau.