NAIROBI, Kenya – The High Court has ordered the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohamed Amin and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Renson Ingonga to remove from their social media and other platforms photographs and statements identifying three businessmen as suspects in an alleged land fraud case involving National Social Security Fund (NSSF) property.
In conservatory orders issued on December 18, Justice E.C. Mwita directed the DCI, the DPP and other respondents to pull down content linking Bharat Ramji, Harish Ramji and Ashvin Ramji to criminal investigations over the acquisition of Land Reference No. 11895/50.
The court further restrained the respondents from publishing or circulating any additional material identifying the petitioners as suspects pending the hearing and determination of the case.
Justice Mwita also granted the respondents 14 days to file and serve their responses to the petition.
The petitioners will have a similar period to file supplementary affidavits and written submissions, after which the respondents will be allowed another 14 days to respond. Directions on the matter will be issued on March 11, 2025.
A penal notice attached to the order warns that any disobedience or non-compliance will attract penal consequences.
DCI Amin Mohammed and DPP Renson Ingonga directed to remove from their their social media and other platforms the photographs of Bharat Ramji, Harish Ramji and Ashvin Ramji and statements identifyng them as suspects in criminal Investigations on alleged forgery or commission of
Background to the dispute
The court case follows public statements and social media posts by the DCI earlier this month announcing the arrest of the three men over an alleged fraudulent transfer of NSSF land valued at about Sh350 million.
According to the DCI, the suspects were arrested over claims that they masterminded a sophisticated land fraud scheme involving a 3.043-hectare parcel of prime land in Athi River, Machakos County, owned by the NSSF.
Investigators said the probe began on September 2, 2025, after the NSSF lodged a formal complaint alleging that unknown individuals had unlawfully obtained a title deed for the property and falsely claimed the fund had sold and transferred the land to them.
The DCI said detectives carried out a forensic review of documents spanning more than 15 years and allegedly uncovered evidence that on May 27, 2010, the suspects, working with accomplices still at large, fabricated a land transfer document and presented it as authentic.
THREE SUSPECTS ARRESTED FOR FRAUDULENT TRANSFER OF NSSF LANDA team of detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) has arrested three individuals involved in the fraudulent transfer of land owned by the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), valued at
According to investigators, the disputed document bore signatures purported to belong to members of the NSSF Board of Trustees, allegedly to give the transaction an appearance of legitimacy.
The investigation file was later forwarded to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which, according to the DCI, independently reviewed the evidence and approved charges including conspiracy to defraud, forgery, making a false document and obtaining registration by false pretences.
At the time of announcing the arrests, the DCI said the suspects were in custody pending arraignment and that efforts to trace other suspects linked to the alleged scheme were ongoing.
However, in their petition before the High Court, the Ramji family challenged the public identification of the petitioners as suspects, prompting the court to issue the conservatory orders now barring further publication until the case is heard and determined.
