Vanitah Nikesh 'suicide': New twist as husband arrested over deleted CCTV footage, police suspect foul play

Homicide detectives have unearthed new clues into the death of a 27-year-old woman whose body was discovered hanging from a window grill in Nairobi on April 3, 2022.

In a fresh twist to the probe, forensic teams investigating the death of the mother of three found that CCTV footage in a building adjacent to the crime scene had been deleted.

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said Vanitah Nikesh’s husband Nikesh Harji Shanghani was arrested, in what seems to be a conspiracy to cover up her murder.

“Yesterday, forensic teams from the Crime Scene Investigations Unit, Imaging & Acoustics and the Homicide team went back to the scene and discovered that CCTV footage recorded on the day of the murder at an adjacent temple had been deleted, pointing to a likely conspiracy into the death of the woman,” said the DCI in a statement released on Friday.

“The deceased’s husband was placed behind bars last evening, as the homicide detectives conclude investigations into the woman’s mysterious death.”

According to the DCI, the deceased’s body was found by neighbors hanging at her house at the Swaminarayan Temple flats, along the Southern bypass, off Lang’ata road.

“Security guards manning the premises broke the door to the flat and found the deceased’s lifeless body hanging on a piece of clothing, as the woman’s 2-month-old infant lay on an adjacent bed,” stated the DCI.

After noticing that the husband was not in the house, the eyewitnesses notified the police at Lang’ata police station who processed the crime scene.

Despite all indications pointing towards a suicide case, neighbours said the marriage was marred with squabbles since Vanita’s 32-year-old husband was an alleged drunkard who avoided marital obligations.

“Preliminary investigations indicated that the woman had taken her own life, due to mistreatment by the husband whom it was alleged was a drunkard and rarely provided for the family. The man had returned home late that night, but left at around 6am after a heated argument and proceeded to an establishment at Galleria Mall, where he continued drinking with a friend,” DCI stated.

“It also emerged that on the fateful morning, the deceased had handed their 4-year-old son to her next-door neighbor and asked her to proceed with him to the temple before she joined them.”

Even though the mother of three; a 4-year-old boy and 2-month-old twins, was on April 4, 2022 cremated according to the Hindu tradition, questions arose as to circumstances revolving around her demise.

“After a forensic examination of the scene as later demonstrated by cyber forensics and imaging experts, homicide specialists could not rule out the possibility of foul play due to the position of the body and the knot patterns of the clothing that the deceased was found hanging on,” explained the detectives.

Shanghani is now behind bars as the homicide detectives conclude investigations into his wife’s mysterious death.

Consequently, DCI George Kinoti is said to have instituted changes at the Lang’ata DCI command based on the handling of the incident.