Fourteen police officers have been grilled by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) over the murder of Albert Ojwang, who died while in police custody.

The officers questioned include those from Nairobi’s Central Police Station and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).

Ojwang was arrested in Homa Bay County over allegations of false publication and was transferred to Central Police Station in Nairobi, where he died on June 7.

IPOA has so far summoned 18 officers for questioning in connection to the death, which has triggered public outrage.

The officers appeared at IPOA offices in Nairobi on Wednesday. Some were accompanied by lawyers, while others attended without legal representation.

Some of the officers claimed Ojwang was already in poor condition when he arrived at the station and said they tried to help him.

DCI officers said he was in good health when he was handed over to the station at 9.35 pm on Saturday.

The Officer Commanding Central Police Station, Samson Taalam, has denied involvement in the incident.

He said he was summoned after Ojwang had already been booked and that he found him in bad shape and took him to hospital.

His lawyer, Felix Keaton said he is ready to cooperate with IPOA.

But DCI Director Amin Mohammed told the Senate that Taalam should be treated as the prime suspect.

"It has further been confirmed that before the booking, the report office personnel called the OCS, and unfortunately, it is being said that he (Taalam) declined to book the suspect,” said Amin. “Taalam is the Officer Commanding Central Police Station, and from the totality of things, he should be treated as the prime suspect in the matter.”

Amin explained that Ojwang was transferred to Nairobi because the alleged offence was committed in the city.

The DPP has given IPOA seven days to submit its findings. But IPOA now says the probe has been delayed due to missing CCTV footage from the OCS’s office.

IPOA Vice Chair Anne Wanjiku told senators that footage that could have helped establish what happened had been interfered with.

She said the postmortem ruled out suicide.

"CCTV systems at the OCS office had been interfered with, the postmortem conducted on June 10 revealed the cause of death as head injury due to blunt force trauma, neck compression and multiple subcutaneous bruises all over the body. They rule out the theory of suicide," she said.