A suspected getaway car got burned 1 ½ metres from the DCI office at Ol Kalou police station this morning.
Nyandarua county commissioner, Boaz Cherutich has directed immediate investigation to ascertain how and why it happened. He has also directed the suspects who abandoned the car and escaped on foot following a chase by members of public to be arrested and be investigated, saying they are well known.
Cherutich told journalists that according to Ol Kalou OCS, Mark Masinde, the Toyota Corolla, NZE, caught fire at around 3am this morning.
He said that yesterday afternoon, four men who were suspected by members of public to be criminals abandoned the car near Ol Kalou stadium from where it was towed by police to Ol Kalou police station where it was burned.
There has been complains among the locals that some police officers from Ol kalou have been colluding with criminals. Churutich said that is news to him but said it will be investigated. He urged anyone with information to report for County police commander and Nyandarua Central Sub County police commander to investigate.
Resident Steve Muriithi, a Victim of theft said that yesterday afternoon they got a report that a radio which had been stolen from Jerusalem estate had been found. They mobilized and arrested the person who had the radio at Ol Kalou Bus Park. He offered to show them the man who sold it to them.
He was in company of other three men in the car, and they asked Muriithi’s group to follow them to Total petrol station at Ol Kalou CBD where they would meet the suspect who sold the Radio. But instead the suspects drove towards Gilgil, prompting the chase.
A short distance past Nyandarua county commissioner’s office they branched and drove along Kanju Road, where they abandoned the car at a bridge and escaped at foot.
Muriithi contradicted the county commissioner’s version that police got up with the suspects near Ol Kalou stadium. He said police did not assist when they were informed and only went for the car when the residents were driving it to Ol Kalou police.
He said the suspects are believed to reside at Nakuru but police did not act when they were given the information. A month ago, he said, his TV and phone were stolen when he was asleep. The criminals are suspected to spray some chemicals that cause their victims to sleep only to wake up and find their electronics including TVs, Woofers, and phones among others gone.
Muriithi said he was surprised to find the car burned outside police station, just a metre and a half from the DCI office, about ten metres from the OCPD office and about 15 metres from the main police station.
Prior to county commissioner’s arrival, there was confrontation as two police officers, police constables Waweru and Kioko, threatened journalists who went to the station so they do not take the photos of the car.
Another constable, Lokala took photos of the journalists. But he was later forced to delete the photos when the journalists complained to OCS Mark Masinde. The three officers were also asked to apologize to the journalists for harassing them while duty.