Detectives want to interrogate Kabras Sugar chairman Jaswant Singh Rai.
This follows his release from abductors on Sunday evening. A team of police visited Rai minutes after he was released by his abductors and announced they wanted to talk to him further.
The team briefly talked to Rai at his Kilimani residence before they allowed him to go to hospital.
“He looks shaken and paranoid for now. We hope to talk to him later on this,” said an officer aware of the probe.
The officers want to understand what those who abducted Rai told him and the possible motive. Rai walked to his compound off Dennis Pritt Road moments after he had been released.
He said he could not recall where he was abandoned by his abductors who had blindfolded him. He was with his daughter at the time police arrived at his compound on getting news he had been released. This was two days after the drama that was captured on security cameras. He was warned not to discuss whatever happened to him with anyone. His lawyer Senior Counsel Kioko Kilukumi confirmed Rai had been released on Sunday evening.
Read: Kabras Sugar owner billionaire Jaswant Singh Rai released by abductors
The lawyer said his client was released on Sunday evening, two days after he was abducted at the junction along Wood Avenue in Kilimani on Friday, August 25.
He said the businessman was shaken but fine and back with his family. The billionaire went missing when his Toyota Landcruiser was blocked at the junction of Wood Avenue in Kilimani opposite Kenwood Apartments at around 4pm by persons driving a grey double-cab pick-up.
CCTV footage of the abduction shows four men getting out of the pick-up and forcibly pulling the occupants of the billionaire’s car into their vehicle before speeding off towards Galana Road. Rai’s car was left idling on the road.
Later, officers at Kilimani Police Station received reports of an abandoned vehicle and towed it to the station, unoccupied and with only a minor scratch on the front right side where the pick-up had made contact.
The billionaire owns of Raiply, Kabras Sugar and Uganda based Sarrai Group. A missing person report was filed at Kilimani Police Station, Nairobi. The family reported a case of missing person vide OB No 21/26/08/2023.
Read Also: Search Ongoing for Missing Billionaire Jaswant Rai After Kidnapping in Nairobi
His daughter made the report on Saturday. Police say they are yet to know those behind the incident and the motive. But other sources linked it to a business rivalry in the sugar industry. The report of the missing man came a day after his vehicle was found abandoned in Kilimani on Friday. Kilimani police commander Moss Ndiwa said they were informed by a member of the public on Friday that a vehicle had been left abandoned by the roadside in the area.
He said they want to hear from the victim as part of the probe. CCTV footage provided by the family revealed how the drama happened. Police said no contact was made to the family so far from the suspected kidnappers.
No demand for ransom was made before he was released, according to the investigators.
President William Ruto had earlier attacked and singled out Rai over the state of the sugar industry.
Rai Group controls more than 40 per cent of the country’s sugar production and market supplies.
Read Also: Ruto Attacks Billionaire Rai After Dramatic Abduction
Ruto was brutal in attacking him even as his family looked for him.
“Msikuwe na wasiwasi niko hapo chonjo kabisa. Nitahakikisha hii kitu inakaa chonjo. Na wakora wote wako katikati. Msikuwe na wasiwasi ati kuna mtu atakuja kutuongelesha kingereza. Sijui mhindi fulani. Sijui nani ni nani. Sijui mwingine ananiambia Rai. Rai Nani? Hapana hiyo haiwezekani.”
(Do not be worried, I am alert to make sure everything will be okay. There is no one who will meddle. Do not be worried about someone coming to talk to us. Someone was telling me Rai. Who is Rai? No, that is not possible.)
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