An Eldoret politician cum businessman David Letting alias Kokwas and four others were on Monday arraigned in an Eldoret court.
The five were arrested on Sunday after residents stormed Yamumbi police post to demand for the arrest of members of a dreaded gang which they said has been terrorizing them for quite some time.
Kokwas, who unsuccessfully vied for the Kipkaren MCA seat in 2017 on a Jubilee ticket, was arrested alongside Brian Kiprotich Lagat, Denis Baraza, Patrick Lagat, Cornelius and David Kimeli Letting.
The five, however, did not take plea as their charge sheet was not ready.
Appearing before Eldoret Principal Magistrate Naomi Wairimu, Investigating Officer James Lekasia, who is also the officer in charge of Yamumbi police post asked for the court to give him 14 days to conduct more investigations before the five are formally charged.
“I am praying that the court allows us to continue holding the suspects for 14 days in custody before being arraigned in court for plea taking pending completion of investigations,” Lekasia said.
He hinted that once investigations are over, the suspects will be charged with creating a disturbance.
The IO also wanted the suspects to be held at Langas police station instead of Yamumbi Police post.
A request for the police to hold the suspects for 14 more days was however rejected by the lawyers representing them arguing that it was a blatant abuse of police powers.
"Police admit there is no complaint so far against the accused, on what basis has the arrest been done? We pray that you find no merit in this application and find that there is no justification in holding them," said Mr Momanyi, one of the suspects' lawyers.
The court however ordered that the suspects be detained for 2 more days to allow police finalize investigations.
“I order that the five suspects be detained at Yamumbi police station for two days and that be brought in court on 8th January 2020,” directed the Magistrate.
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