Tycoon's son tortured to death by gangsters in Nairobi

A son of billionaire Kimani Rugendo was tortured by a gang in his house in Nairobi on Tuesday night and died the following day.

Police said businessman Christopher Munange, 47, was beaten up in his house in Ngumo estate and died several hours later at a Nairobi hospital.

He told police he had left his bar at Wilson Airport on Tuesday morning at about 2am.

When he got to his house, he found people not known to him waiting in the sitting room. It is not clear how they gained access to the house.

He said they tortured him for hours and left him for dead.

Kilimani police boss Peter Katam said Munange later regained consciousness and called his younger brother, Kinyanjui, who took him to his parents' house in Hardy, Karen.

"They later took him to hospital but he died while being attended to. That was on Wednesday afternoon long after the incident had happened," said Katam.

The body was moved to the Lee Funeral Home.

The motive of the murder is unknown. A team of detectives visited the house where the victim was beaten up and realised Munange, a father of one girl, has been staying alone.

"Neighbours say he separated with the wife and he has been staying here alone. We don't know who was behind it and the motive but they seem to be people who had an agenda," said another officer .

Police say they are yet to make any arrests. Rugendo is a former politician and a businessman who has a vast interest in the beverage industry. He refused to comment on the issue, saying it was under police probe for now.

Katam said Rugendo had called the station to report about the matter before Kinyanjui went to make a formal statement there. Head of DCI at Kilimani Phylis Kanina said a team of detectives is pursuing the murder with an aim of establishing the motive and arrest those behind it.

"This looks like murder and we are doing our best to get those behind it," she said.

Meanwhile, police shot dead a suspected gangster and arrested two others yesterday morning after a failed robbery attempt in Kileleshwa, Nairobi.

Nairobi County Police boss Japheth Koome said a gang of five raided an electronics shop in Kileleshwa in the 2am incident and tied the watchman before  escaping with computers.