DCI officers conduct fact finding visit at Kwa Binzaro ‘cult’ site

Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) officers conducted a fact-finding visit to the site of an alleged fasting-to-death cult, where one body and two human remains were recently recovered.

The team that was led by the Director in charge of the Homicide Division of the DCI,  Martin Nyuguto, Saturday, combed the forest near Kwa Binzaro village within the Chakama Ranch and marked several sites believed to be shallow graves.

Nyuguto, who declined to be recorded on camera, told journalists that after establishing the sites, a team of homicide detectives, forensic crime scene investigation officers and pathologists would be formed with a view to exhuming bodies from the identified graves.

The visit comes in the wake of concerns that cultic activities akin to the infamous Shakahola one associated with controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie were still going on within the vast ranch.

11 people were arrested on Sunday, July 20, 2025 and arraigned in court the following day for allegedly engaging in cultic activities at the Kwa Binzaro area.

No charges were however preferred against them as the DCI, in a miscellaneous application, requested the court to give investigation officers 30 days to allow them to complete their investigations.

Senior Principal Magistrate Joy Wesonga granted the detectives their request and ordered that ten of the suspects be held at the Malindi police station. One suspect, a minor, was detained at the Malindi Juvenile Remand Home. The case will be mentioned on August 22, 2025.