Hours after Dennis Itumbi’s arrest over alleged links to a letter in Deputy President William Ruto’s assassination plot, the police are now training guns on a Tanga Tanga WhatsApp group, which they believe Itumbi shared the letter to.
Itumbi, who is a digital strategist at the Deputy President William Ruto’s Annex office, was arrested on Wednesday afternoon in Nairobi’s Central Business District as he had lunch with his friends.
According to reports, detectives will be pursuing 256 members in the group to record statements with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
This, the police say is part of the investigations into the alleged fake letter that led to the summoning of several Mount Kenya leaders including four cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries and parastatal heads.
Read: Itumbi’s Arrest A Diversion From La Mada ‘Assassination’ Meeting – Murkomen
The letter claims that a meeting was convened at Hotel La Mada behind the National Intelligence Service (NIS) headquarters to discuss how to “shore up support for the President in Mt Kenya and its diaspora” and the issue of Mr Ruto’s “assassination”.
It’s alleged that the letter in question was authored at a cybercafe in Lang’ata.
The prosecution is seeking to detain Itumbi for 14 days to allow them to gather enough evidence to charge him.
“There is a phone that the accused uses and has just been taken to the cybercrime unit for further investigation,” the court was told.
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However, the defence team is opposed to the request, stating that his right to privacy ought to be respected.
Itumbi’s lawyers said the accused did not create the WhatsApp group nor is he an administrator.
“He is just a member…The group has members of parliament, senators and governors people of more significance than the accused,” his lawyers said.
“Your honour you are being invited to the division between one side of the political divide called Tangatanga and one that the investigators belong to called Kieleweke,” Itumbi’s legal team stated.
They questioned the DCI why they were yet to record statements with the 256 members yet they have been investigating the matter since June 20.
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