Vehicle transporting musician Njaro's body siezed in Murang'a
The vehicle after it was impounded by police in Kenol town.
In a macabre twist of events, police in Murang'a have impounded a private car that was transporting the body of the late benga musician and businessman Edward Irungu Njaro.
The body of Mr Njaro, 43, is said to have been retrieved from the Masinga dam on July 17.
The body had been lying at the Embu Level Five Hospital mortuary. Police were still investigating the circumstances of his death.
Regional security intelligence tipped of authorities that a white car, KCJ 011E, was racing towards Nairobi loaded with a body, Murang’a South sub-county police boss Alexander Shikondi.
“We immediately laid an ambush and intercepted it at Kenol. The body was in a body bag and concealed in the back seats of the car. It had one occupant, who was the driver, and (he) has been arrested too,” he said.
The removal of the body from the mortuary was controversial, he said, as it was being claimed by two sides of his family.
“There is the parents’ wing that wants to bury the body in Murang’a while another side led by the widow Joyce Wanjira wants the body buried in a public cemetery,” he said.
Police want to find out who authorised the release of the body and where it was being taken.
The incident happened hours after Dr Phyllis Kivisi conducted a postmortem exam on the body and concluded that “the death most likely resulted from drowning”.
Reported missing
She estimated the date of death as July 14, the day Mr Njaro was reported missing.
On Wednesday, his father Njaro Wairatu had alleged that a clique of Nairobi clandestine dealers had murdered him.
He said he had received a call from someone using a concealed number on Wednesday morning promising him financial help. The person advised him not to speak to the media about the death of his son.
He alleged that a plot to justify the suicide theory started with text messages being sent to some people allegedly from Mr Njaro’s mobile phone number on July 14.
While some messages said that he had a Sh700,000 loan that was distressing him after he failed to pay up, other messages to other people said he was stressed and had a headache and evil thoughts.
Some of the messages allegedly indicated that he would jump into the River Tana and advised those who would search for his body to get his vehicle from Kamweli village, off the Makutano-Embu road.
“He had told me that there was a businessman who was stressing him over some deal that they had signed in Nairobi. He said the trader was demanding from him money from a deal that had gone sour,” his father said.
Mbeere South police boss Gregory Mutiso said the body had no physical injuries. This was corroborated by the postmortem report though Mr Njaro’s father insisted that it had two prominent injuries — one in the forehead and the other on the upper lip — with clothes still on, including his feet in socks and shoes.
Dr Kivisi, the pathologist, confirmed the body was fully clothed — an unexpected observation because Mr Njaro was reported to have drowned more than 100km in a river infested with crocodiles, hippos and killer fish.
The body was moved to the Kenyatta University hospital mortuary under police guard awaiting the recording of statements from all involved.
