Court order senior detective to refund Echesa Sh200,000

Former Sports CS Rashid Echesa. [File, Standard]

A senior detective at Karen Police Station is on the spot after a Nairobi court ordered him to refund Sh200,000 he took from former Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Echesa.

Chief Inspector Kenneth Bowen is said to have taken the cash during investigations into the self-kidnap and extortion saga pitting Echesa and Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa.

Kibera Magistrate Anne Mwangi ordered the officer to return the money within 14 days after he confessed before court that he received the cash when Echesa appeared before him to lodge a complaint of abduction and torture on March 18 this year.

Bowen told the magistrate that after receiving the money and the phone, he forwarded the same to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters which was investigating Echesa over allegations of self kidnap, torture, and extortion of Sh 240 million from Barasa.

However, the investigating officer from DCI headquarters denied ever receiving the Sh200,000, and the phone belonging to Echesa.