Dennis Itumbi detained for 5 days over alleged DP Ruto assassination letter

Dennis Itumbi will now be held at Muthaiga Police Station for 5 days pending completion of investigations into an alleged assassination letter, a Nairobi court has directed.

The prosecution on Thursday urged the court to detain the accused at Kamukunji Police Station for 14 days while investigators seek statements from 256 members of a WhatsApp group where Itumbi was alleged to have shared the letter.

Magistrate Zainabu Abdul, while dismissing the period sought by the prosecution as too long, stated that the matter will be heard on July 10, 2019.

Itumbi’s team had earlier dismissed the Prosecution’s claim that he should be detained for longer as he might interfere with the investigations.

According to them, since the investigations began, there has been no point where the accused has reached out to witnesses.

It was also noted that Itumbi did not create the Tangatanga WhatsApp group that is under investigation, neither 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,” the advocate added.

Dennis Itumbi was arrested on Wednesday afternoon within the Nairobi city centre by detectives from the Flying Squad.

It is alleged that he and another aide of Deputy President William Ruto are linked to a letter that was circulated alleging an assassination plot.

The DCI with the help of the Federal Bureau of Investigations discovered that the letter originated from a cyber cafe in Nairobi’s Lang’ata estate.