Two more suspects were on Sunday arrested in connection to the murder of blogger Daniel Muthiani alias Snipper.
The arrests bring to seven, the total number of suspects so far arrested that include governor Kawira Mwangaza’s county staff and relatives.
One of the suspects arrested on Sunday was identified as Brian Mwenda, a bodaboda rider.
He was arrested on the outskirts of Gachanka village, Ntima East division in North Imenti.
Detectives from the DCI Headquarters Homicide Department, led by Director Martin Nyuguto, raided the home of the rider in the probe before walking out with him.
They took more than four hours at the suspect’s rented home collecting forensic evidence to aid in Sniper’s murder probe.
According to the detectives, Mwenda, among other suspects, is already in custody and will be arraigned at the Kiambu Law Courts on Monday.
The Sunday arrest comes just a day after Detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) on Saturday stormed and pitched tent at the home of Mwangaza in Milimani estate, cordoning it off for the better part of the day.
They are also reviewing CCTV footage at the home and near there.
Homicide detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on Saturday declared the governor’s residence a crime scene as preliminary investigations reveal the killing was planned and executed by her close associates.
The detectives had earlier arrested five suspect among them Mwangaza’s brother and bodyguard Kenneth Murangiri Guantai, Director of Protocol in her government Kenneth Mutuma Matiri alias Kasigi, Fredrick Muriuki Kiugu, Frankline Kimathi and Timothy Kinoti.
In an application filed at Kiambu Magistrate court the detectives want the suspects detained at Muthaiga police station for 21 days to enable them complete investigations.
Circumstantial evidence has linked the governor’s office to the murder with detectives saying it was unlikely that killers acted without her knowledge or consent of Mwangaza.
A call data analysis of the suspects also established a pattern of communication before the killing of the blogger.
The probe seeks to, among other things, establish the mastermind of the plan to eliminate Sniper and how the killers were procured.
Under section 20 of the Penal Code, a principal offender includes the one who committed the actual act, one who abets or aids or omits to do something for purposes of aiding or abetting the commission of an offence.
Sniper disappeared on December 2,2023 before his body was recovered dumped in a thicket on the banks of River Mutonga in Tharaka Nithi county on December 16.
The Chief Government pathologist Johansen Oduor who conducted the postmortem on December 22 said the deceased was tortured before being strangled to death.
Snipper had, in his social media posts, recorded videos criticizing the governor and according to the DCI, the suspects had told him that the governor wanted them to work together.
In the application the DCI said another suspect who is also in custody named Vincent Murithi alias Supuu lured the deceased through a phone call that the county boss wanted to meet him for truce before he travels from his home at Kabuitu in Igembe south.
“The deceased was lured through a phone call to come and meet the governor whom he used to publicly criticize so that they can make peace and work together,” reads part of the application.
The detectives are allegedly treating Mwangaza’s residence as a possible area of interest into the probe, which has garnered much public attention.
According to investigators, the deceased was lured by the five suspects through a phone call alleging that Governor Mwangaza wanted to meet him.
Sniper disappeared on December 2 and his body was discovered on December 16, 2023.
A post-mortem examination conducted on the body of the deceased at the Marimanti Level 4 Hospital mortuary in Tharaka Nithi, Meru County, revealed that he died of strangulation.
Government pathologist Johansen Oduor, who conducted the examination, said Sniper had marks on his neck and exhibited signs of a person who had lacked oxygen.
He also had fractured ribs and showed injuries.
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