Billionaire Rai Released After Daylight Abduction

Billionaire Jaswant Singh Rai, Kabras Sugar owner, who was allegedly kidnapped in broad daylight has been released.

Citizen TV reported that his lawyer, Senior Counsel Kioko Kilukumi confirmed that his client was set free by those who took him away on Friday, August 25.

"Jaswant Singh Rai has been released unharmed," activist Boniface Mwangi, among the first concerned individuals to share CCTV footage online of him being abducted, announced on Twitter.

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Businessman Jaswant Singh Rai has been released#SundayLive @VickyRubadiri @KoinangeJeff pic.twitter.com/VRNwIL9Wkp — Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) August 27, 2023

The release came just hours after President William Ruto put him in the spotlight during his address at an interdenominational thanksgiving and prayer service at Uwanja Ndege Grounds in Bungoma County where he sharply warned that he would not allow a few people to misuse Kenyans in an economic fashion, adding that he would not hesitate to take action against them.

“Msikuwe na wasiwasi niko hapo chonjo kabisa. Nitahakikisha hii kitu inakaa chonjo. Na wakora wote wako katikati. Msikuwe na wasiwasi ati kuna mtu atakuja kutuongelesha kingereza. Sijui mhindi fulani. Sijui nani ni nani. Sijui mwingine ananiambia Rai. Rai Nani? Hapana hiyo haiwezekani.”

Loosely translated to: "Do not be worried, I'm on high alert. I'll make sure everything works properly. The crooks are in the middle of it."

"Do not be worried that someone is coming to talk to us in English. I don't know which Indian, I don't know who...someone was telling me about Rai, Rai who? No, that cannot happen," an agitated Ruto cautioned.

The Rai Group controls more than 40 per cent of the country’s sugar production and market supplies. His family filed a missing persons' report at Kilimani Station on the same day.

Ruto's remarks came as questions continued to linger on Rai's alleged abduction, which was captured on CCTV. A motorist believed to be Rai was seen being taken out of an SUV in Kilimani, Nairobi after it was blocked by a pickup which drove in a rush past other vehicles to cut off Rai from escaping.

The shocking incident unfolded at a busy traffic light junction, where Rai had stopped momentarily, waiting for the green signal to proceed before the vehicle skipped other cars towards its target, the billionaire, who was ambushed.

The situation escalated quickly as two men dressed in black alighted and accosted him, with a back-and-forth ensuing between the victim and the assailant.

However, Rai was overpowered and dragged into the pickup truck, which drove off, abandoning his SUV in the middle of the highway. 

Billionaire Jaswant Singh Rai during a past appearance in Parliament. /FILE