Kasarani, a Nairobi neighbourhood that once boasted a burgeoning middle-class residency, is now a cesspit of murders and suicides.

On the first floor of Kasarani Police Station that houses Sub-county Criminal Investigations Officer Jimmy Kimaro’s office, five benches and two small worn-out maroon chairs welcomes visitors to the waiting bay.

They are almost always full as people check in to report crimes or relatives missing, murdered or dead by suicide. Mr Kimaro, who took over from Mr Vincent Kipkorir last December, he admits that there is a big problem.

Took over

“Since January, we have had 40 cases of suicides, murders and unexplained deaths. It is a worrying trend,’’ Mr Kimaro told Nation in his office at the weekend.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Homicide Unit from the Kiambu Road head office recently took over investigations following allegations that officers at Kasarani Police Station took bribes to cover up the death of 23-year-old interior designer Jeff Mwathi last month.

Mwathi died on February 22 at Redwood Apartments, where he had visited musician Lawrence Njuguna, popularly known as DJ Fatxo, for a business deal.

Homicide Unit head Martin Nyuguto told Nation on phone yesterday that investigations are ongoing but declined to divulge details.

Officers at Kasarani Police Station and the Homicide Unit told Nation that seeds to cover up Mwathi’s murder were planted at the scene of crime, where first responders deliberately disregarded evidence pointing to foul play.

At Kasarani Police Station, Nation has learnt, two opposing camps emerged as the seeds germinated and grew in an official report. One side wanted investigations launched while the other wanted the case closed and Mwathi’s death ruled as suicide.

“If you keenly watched the original version of the CCTV footage and not the others that were doctored and shared online, the deceased was pushed out of a tiny window from the tenth floor. He fell face-down with his hands outstretched towards the ground,” a detective told Nation.

“Two things here, the deceased was intoxicated. Secondly, the people who did it [pushed him out of the window] had [no idea what to do after the murder]. It was not a suicide but what we don’t know for now is the motive,’’ a homicide detective told Nation in confidence.

Mr Kimaro denied claims that any his officers was bribed, maintaining that the investigations were overboard.

Book the body

In yet another case, gospel musician Dishon Mirugi, real name Paul Mathenge Wanderi, was arrested over the death of Nakuru-based pastor Elizabeth Wanjiru Githinji, whose body was found inside his house in Maziwa.

Ms Wanjiru 38, had allegedly travelled from Nakuru to Nairobi on March 18 to visit Mr Mirugi, who told police she later died by suicide inside his house. Strangely, Mr Mirugi shuttled from one police station to another — from Kiamumb to Kasarani and Kahawa West — seeking a permit to book the body at the Kenyatta University Funeral Home.

At Jacaranda Maternity Hospital on Kamiti Road where Mr Mirugi had taken Ms Wanjiru “for first aid”, medics told Mr Mirugi, who owns Flying Eagle International Ministry Church in Juja, that she was already dead.