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The Director of Public Prosecution has approved charges against seven people who are accused of abducting three children from a man whose wife committed suicide.

The DPP directed that Urvash Kauship, Lalji Hirani, Ratan Daya, Dakish Nilesh Siyani, Mitiksha Vekariyi, Arvind Vekarija and Namrata Manoj Keshavji Makwana be charged with conspiracy to commit a felony.

The three children — among them a-five-year-old girl and seven-month-old twins, were “forcibly taken” by two of the suspects, Lali and his wife Hirani. This was after their father, Nikesh Harji, was detained by police for almost a month over the death of his wife (Vanita Nikesh), who was found hanging in her bedroom in April, 2022.

Lali and his wife then filed an application before Tononoka law court seeking custody of the minors.

Mombasa Principal Magistrate Viola Yator granted them custody.

The widower, through lawyer Danstan Omari, moved to court seeking to have legal and actual custody, care and control of the minors.

Nikesh also sought an exclusion order against the three strangers, who took custody of the children, from interfering with their welfare and custody. The court allowed him to see the children and restrained all parties from removing them from the jurisdiction of the court.

The magistrate further ordered the children’s officer, Nyali Sub-County, to conduct a social inquiry on the children and file the report in court.

Yesterday, Omari, representing the widower, claimed it has been difficult for police to effect arrest orders against the seven suspects. “When the police went to arrest them yesterday, they locked in the father of the children inside the compound, plus police officers,” said Omari.

The DPP, while directing their arrest, said a letter allegedly signed by the grandmother of the children handing the minors to the suspects, lacked legal probative value as children are not “willed” out by second-tier relatives to strangers.