[1][2] Sooknandan came to Belize immediately after his law school graduation to work in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, and remained in the country thereafter.
He was the second DPP in a row to depart suddenly from office, after Kirk Anderson, who though having tenure resigned and returned to his native Jamaica with a settlement package of BZ$100,000.
His brother, novelist Karan Chand, followed him to Belize in 1989 and worked as an administrator at St. Michael's College; he later moved to Ontario, Canada.
Their father Sooknandan Ghasi, a native of Kolkata, West Bengal, India, came to Guyana in the early 20th century.
[10][11] Sooknandan did his legal education at the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago, graduating in 1986.