The family of Peter Kawanjiru, an ally of Rigathi Gachagua, has alleged that officers from the Director of Criminal Investigations forcibly took their relative on Monday night.
According to the family, the officers who were dressed in civilian clothes stormed their house in Limuru at around 8:30pm, broke doors and scattered everything while demanding to take the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP) youth leader into their custody.
While narrating how the events unfolded, eyewitnesses and family members revealed that over 10 vehicles stormed the area, then moments later, a power blackout struck the area, followed by loud banging, gunshots, and chaos.
“They said they were from DCI Kiambu Road and were looking for someone named Kawanjiru. When we refused to open, they started hitting the door with metal rods,” a family member narrated.
The family claimed that the officers never presented a warrant, nor did they explain the reason for the operation.
“I asked them, ‘Has he killed someone? Has he stolen?’ but they said, ‘We’re just doing the job we were sent to do,’” the family member added.
Kawanjiru, a Gachagua ally, has been vocal in voicing campaigns against the Kenya Kwanza administration and professing the 'Wan tam' slogans against the government.
Speaking to NTV, the family revealed that tension escalated when the officers allegedly fired live rounds into the air, forcing the crowd to disperse. The standoff allegedly lasted for over four hours.
Since then, Kawanjiru has been missing, and the family cannot trace his whereabouts. They have visited multiple police stations in Kiambu and Nairobi, but the search has been in vain, as no one has confirmed his detention or provided any information.
His callous manner of arrest has elicited mixed reactions and tension among Kenyans, who have continued to raise an alarm over the increased cases of forced disappearances in the country.
Kawanjiru's alleged abduction adds to the growing list of Gachagua's allies who have been forcefully taken. Barely a month ago, Juja MP George Koimburi, another of Gachagua's allies, was said to have been abducted, an abduction DCI officers said was stage-managed.
After recovery, following weeks of admission at the Karen Hospital, Koimburi refuted the DCI claims, narrating how he was forcibly taken while leaving a church service at Full Gospel Churches of Kenya.
Meanwhile, another Gachagua ally, National Youth Leader and NEC Member of the DCP Party, Wanjiku Thiga, has alleged that she has been abducted. Wanjiku, who has been vocal in advocating for Kawanjiru's release, took to her X page to report that she had allegedly been abducted at Kamakis.
