Kenya mass grave: In a shocking incident, police exhumed 21 bodies near the coastal town of Kenya's Malindi after villagers complained against a preacher for practising a religious "cult" wherein people were lured to starve till death.
According to the police, the preacher, Paul Mackenzie Nthenge, asked their followers to push themselves into starvation in order "to meet Jesus", BBC reported on Sunday.
Further, the police said they exhumed the bodies of 21 people including children and added it was expected to find even more bodies.
As per the reports, the shallow graves are in Shakahola forest, where 15 members of the Good News International Church were rescued last week.
Meanwhile, KBC, a state broadcaster, described him as a "cult leader", and reported that 58 graves have so far been identified. Also, the police claimed they were expecting more bodies.
Preacher claims he had shut down his church in 2019
Local media reported that the police arrested him on April 15 after discovering the bodies of four people suspected of having starved themselves to death. When police asked the preacher about his religious practices, he denied any wrongdoings and claimed he had shut down his church around four years ago.
Meanwhile, the pathologists will take DNA samples, The Standard reported and added they will conduct tests to determine whether the victims died of starvation.
It is worth mentioning that this was not the first time that such a gruesome development shook the whole world. Kenya is a religious country and there have been previous cases of people being lured into dangerous, unregulated churches or cults.
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