A man suspected to have had a hand in the brutal murder of three brothers in Nakuru was today charged with extortion after he allegedly demanded a ransom of Sh500, 000 from the family of the deceased.
Charles Njuguna alias Dennis Waweru who appeared before Principal Magistrate Josephat Kalo is accused of sending threatening short text messages to the family of the three so as to set them free, charges he denied.
He was charged that on January 24 within Nakuru town having knowledge of written contents alleged to be from the outlawed Mungiki sect reading “we Mungiki are the ones who have kidnapped, send the money or we kill them all” using a Safaricom line tried to extort money from Manaseh Ndirangu.
According to police, the three brothers Daniel Ndirangu, Mwai Ndirangu, and Paul Ndirangu left their home in Barnabas area in Nakuru on January 18 to register as voters and never came back home, the family reported their disappearance at Mwariki Police Station eight days after.
Chege is alleged to have sent another threatening text message on January 25, informing the father of the three that if they don’t send the money they will only receive the bodies in a week’s time.
The family was later reported the incident at Nakuru Criminal Investigations Offices and the media after the threatening messages from an unknown number kept on demanding ransoms. Their disfigured bodies were found in a forest in Thika a few days later.