Patel Dam owner Perry Mansukh Kanasagara has written to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) seeking an out-of-court deal in a case involving the death of 48 people.
Mansukh and his farm manager Vinoj Jaya Kumar, together with seven others are facing charges of 48 counts of manslaughter after a dam collapsed in Mansukh’s estate, killing 48 people.
The other seven accused are Johnson Njuguna, Winnie Muthoni, Luka Kipyegen, Willie Omondi, Jacinta Were, Tomkin Odo Odhiambo and Lynette Cheruiyot who are also charged with failing to prepare an environmental impact assessment report.
Mansukh and Vinoj through lawyer Boniface Masinde told a Naivasha Court that they had requested to have their case dropped after writing to the DPP.
State Counsel Catherine Mwaniki told the court that the office of the DPP had received the letter but they wanted to listen to the accused before making a decision on the matter.
Mwaniki said the accused will have a meeting with the DPP and both parties will brief the court during the next case hearing.
“This is like a plea bargain where the accused plead guilty but are given a lesser sentence depending on the charges facing them,” said Mwaniki as quoted by standardmedia.co.ke.
The DPP and the two accused will meet on August 2 to discuss the matter that is pending at the court in Naivasha.
Lawyer Masinde had asked the court to give his clients their passport back saying Mansukh has a legal matter to attend to in India while Njuguna will take his wife to India for treatment.
Naivasha Chief Magistrate Kennedy Bidali granted the application and ordered that they be handed their passports back.
Magistrate Bidali further ordered that the accused be reporting to the offices of the DCI once every month instead of two as before following a request by the lawyer.