After hours of heated public concern surrounding the murder of lawyer Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and their driver, Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet has provided a list of three police officers suspected to be in the heart of the scandal.
While giving the names on Saturday, Boinnet refuted claims that his force was supporting extrajudicial killings and intimated he was committed to bringing to book those involved in crime.
Senior Sergeant Fredrick Leliman, Corporal Stephen Chebulet and Constable Silvia Wanjiku who were named by Boinnet have already been detained and will now be investigated after their boss identified them as prime suspects in the case.
Boinnet hinted strongly at being certain that the three officers were the perpetrators of the murder, calling them rogue officers.
“There is circumstantial evidence to link the three officers to the murders. These are rogue officers just like any society with rogue people,” he said.
The development follows Boinnet’s Thursday disclaimer that sought to distance the police force from such crime where he promised that the law would take its course even if those involved were police officers.
There has been a public outcry regarding the killings of the lawyer after strong suspicion linked police officers to their murder because of a case they were working on, where Mwenda had sued police officers for illegally arresting him.
Human Rights Watch on Thursday said that there was "credible evidence the men were, at some point, in the custody of Administration Police, and may be victims of an enforced disappearance".
Of the same opinion were also members of the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) who on Thursday demonstrated to the offices of the IG demanding immediate investigation.
"It is becoming a pattern that people are disappearing without any trace and with no person taking responsibility," former LSK Chairperson Ahmednasir Abdullahi said.
Should the three or anyone else from the police force be chargerd with the murder, it will be a big milestone in the country's journey against extrajudicial killings suspected to be masterminded by the police.