Nanyuki farmer's body found buried in shallow grave

Police in Nanyuki have exhumed the body of a farmer suspected to have been murdered in a carjacking incident and secretly buried.

Two suspects have been arrested in connection with the murder of Benson Gatitu and are currently in custody at Nanyuki Police Station.

The two were arrested at the Malaba border on Sunday and the deceased's vehicle and personal belongings recovered.

Nanyuki OCPD Zaccheus Ng'eno told the media Gatitu, 46, is believed to have been accosted by the suspects and killed on Thursday last week.

The suspects then buried his body before driving away in his car.

The body was discovered in a shallow grave inside a napier grass plantation and had started decomposing. It was naked and the hands were bound with a nylon rope.

Police officers and members of the public yesterday exhumed Gatitu's body and took it to the Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital mortuary pending a postmortem.

Close friends and neighbours said they last made contact with the farmer at 4pm on Thursday before he became unavailable on his mobile phone. However, police said they had received reports that the phone was still being used to send text messages.

Francis Gathara said he had received a text messages informing him that Gatitu had a sore throat and could only communicate through text messages.

"Some (messages) read that he was in Ethiopia buying maize and looking for a lorry to transport it back to Kenya," said Mr Gathara.

Angry residents who rushed to watch as the body was exhumed threatened to set the homestead where the farmer was found ablaze.