Detectives investigating the murder of blogger Albert Ojwang’ were yesterday sifting through the call data records (CDR) to establish any possible communication between Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat and the officers linked to the death of the Voi-based teacher.

The detectives have called in forensic experts from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to corroborate claims made by one of the key suspects Police Constable James Mukhwana that Lagat had been in constant communication with some of the officers implicated in the murder, whom he had directed to “teach Ojwang’ a lesson.”

The noose continued to tighten on the neck of Lagat as it also emerged that the DCI never followed the laid-down police procedures in the arrest and subsequent transfer of Ojwang’ to Nairobi, putting the unit’s director, Mohamed Amin, on the spot.

As the investigations intensified, with reports indicating that Lagat could be arrested and prosecuted if Mukhwana’s testimony is verified and corroborated, there were protests in several towns across the country as Kenyans took to the streets demanding that the DIG be either interdicted or sacked.

In Nairobi, a man described as having been unarmed and going about his business selling masks and water was shot at what seemed to be point-blank range by police officers outside Imenti House between Moi and Tom Mboya avenues.

Needless shooting

The shooting was captured live on mobile phones by other protesters, with disturbing footage circulating online showing two armed officers confronting the man moments before one of them opened fire.

“This man was just selling water before he was shot at close range as he stood there. This is so wrong!” a visibly distraught woman said, wailing moments after the shooting, underscoring the raw anger that erupted across Nairobi’s CBD following the incident.

Meanwhile, sources at the Internal Affairs Unit (IAU) and the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) were scheduled to record statements from Lagat yesterday afternoon, a day after one of the suspects in the murder, Police Constable James Mukhwana, sensationally claimed he had acted on his orders.

Mukhwana claims in his new statement to IPOA that the assault on Ojwang was ordered by Central Police Station OCS Samson Talaam, allegedly acting on instructions from Lagat.

The constable confessed to recruiting inmates, paying them to beat Ojwang, and later deleting evidence after being warned not to speak on the phone.

Mukhwana claims he was summoned to OCS Talaam’s office by Central Deputy OCS, Samuel Ng’ang’a, at around 7:30 pm on the night of the incident, June 7, 2025.

Talaam reportedly gave Mukhwana Ksh2,000 to use to convince the remandees to carry out the attack.

When Mukwhana questioned what would happen if something went wrong, he said Talaam told him not to worry since he was a junior officer and had no choice but to follow orders.

Mukhwana, who says he was given another Ksh2,000 to pay inmates Collins Ireri, Gil Ammiton, Brian Mwaniki and Erick Ndambuki, who have been linked to the murder, to torture Ojwang’, has also roped Central Deputy OCS Samson Ng’ang’a into the case.

Mukhwana is said to have decided to open up on the realisation that Talaam and other officers had allegedly conspired to throw him under the bus despite an earlier agreement to cover each other’s backs.

Detectives handling the case are now out to verify Mukhwana’s claims through forensic analysis of the CDR and witnesses.

Besides zeroing in on Lagat to establish the role he played in the whole saga apart from having been the complainant, detectives are also raising several questions on the entire procedure, starting from the failure by the DIG to make a formal complaint, to why the suspect was booked at Central Police Station.

IAU and IPOA have established tha,t contrary to Amin’s claims that Lagat had made a complaint, there was nothing recorded in any OB at any police station in the country.

Lagat is said to have made the complaint directly to Amin, who is his peer in the service.

Detectives say no evidence has been produced so far to back up the claim that Lagat had made a formal complaint.

“If he indeed made the complaint, what is the OB number and which station? And if he made the complaint through a letter to Amin, when did it reach the DCI security registry, and when did Amin get it?” one of the detectives told the People Daily.

In his statement, Mukhwana claims that when the arresting officers arrived at the station, one of them alighted from their Subaru vehicle while conversing in Kalenjin and asking for him.

“I suspected they were the DCI officers that I saw alighting from the Subaru car with a person in handcuffs. There was a person who came out of the vehicle. The person asked who Mukhwana was,” he claims in his statement.

After confirming he was the person the man was asking for, Mukhwana claims he was handed the phone and informed by OCS Talaam that Ojwang was the man they had been waiting for.

“I heard the voice of OCS Taalam telling me ‘ni huyo mtu’ (That’s him),” said Mukhwana, who says the unidentified man also confirmed Ojwang as the suspect.