Two suspects Tuesday appeared before court in Eldoret over the murder of athlete Edward Kiplagat alias Benjamin.
The two suspects included David Ekhai Lokere alias Timo aged 25 and Peter Ushuru Khalumi aged 30 years.
The appeared before Principal Magistrate Kesse Cherono who allowed police to hold the suspects for 21 days to facilitate completion of investigations.
Cherono said it was necessary to hold the suspects for investigations and she had also considered the fact that public peace had been disturbed following the incident.
Police told the court that they were still investigating the murder of the athlete.
Police said the body of the deceased was found lying in a pool of blood with stab wounds.
The two were arrested on January 1, 2024 in Eldoret and Kitale and they are suspected to have murdered the athlete.
The investigation team said they are yet to conduct postmortem on deceased and l crucial exhibits collected from suspects are yet to be taken for analysis at the government chemists.
CCTV footage from the scene of crime was also yet to be analysed by the cyber crime unit.
The DCI handling the case also noted that mobile phone records were also yet to be retrieved along registration numbers for car and a motorcycle found at the scene.
Police are also yet to record statements from witnesses at the scene and that the place of aboard for the suspects is unknown and if released they are likely to escape.
Police added that necessary information from Uganda embassy on status of deceased prior to his death was yet to be established.
Lawyer George Sonkule for the accused cited the Bill of Rights in the Constitution arguing that the suspects have the right to freedom.
Sonkule said the investigations officer had not indicated to the court which charges the accused are likely to face.
He said nothing stopped the police from investigating the matter and the make a conclusion on whether to charge the two or not.
He claimed that the suspects were assaulted during arrest and their phones were seized.
Sonkule also claimed that some money had been withdrawn from the Mpesa accounts of the accused after they were forced to give out their PIN numbers.
Moiben sub county police commander Stephen Okal had confirmed that the two suspects included a bodaboda rider in the region.
A blood stained knife suspected to have been used to stab the athlete was recovered from the suspects.
Kiplagat was a long distance runner specialising in 3000m steeplechase.
Police m said the motive of the killing appeared to be a criminal incident and that a mobile phone and money were stolen from the athlete.
Kiplagat has been competing for Uganda.
The body of the athlete was found with a deep knife cut on the neck.
The body was found in a car at Texas area near Kimumu Secondary school along the Eldoret-Iten Road.
An abandoned motorcycle was also found next to the vehicle.
Some cash and a mobile phone were stolen from the deceased.
He previously represented Uganda at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.
The deceased athlete had competed in a series of competitions including the Shanghai Samsung Diamond League, Lausanne Athletissima in Switzerland, Paris Meeting Areva and Hengelo Fanny Blankers-Koen Games in the Netherlands.
He began by competing in the 10,000 metres, but on the advice of his coach, he dropped down to the 1500 and 5000m and later steeplechase.
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