Fresh court records have revealed that the three men dramatically arrested on Friday, 5 October 2025, by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) over the disputed KSh350 million National Social Security Fund (NSSF) land in Athi River were protected by an active Court of Appeal order explicitly barring their arrest or prosecution.
The order, issued on 20 September 2024 by Justices Lesiit, Mativo and Gachoka, granted Bharat Ramji, Harish Ramji and Ashvin Ramji a stay of execution that halted.
“The 3rd respondent’s decision to arrest and prosecute the applicants pending the filing, hearing and determination of their intended appeal”.
Despite this, DCI officers on 5 December arrested the three, claiming they forged transfer documents to obtain LR No. 11895/50 from NSSF in 2010.
Arrests explicitly barred
In their ruling, the appellate judges noted that the land matter had already undergone full litigation in the High Court and the Court of Appeal, which in December 2023 affirmed that the Ramji family held a valid title and that claims of fraud had not been proved.
The bench observed that reopening criminal proceedings on the same matter risked interfering with the active legal process.
Citing the earlier civil findings, the judges wrote that the existence of a final Court of Appeal judgment dismissing allegations of fraud amounted to “exceptional circumstances” requiring protection from parallel criminal action.
They further warned that allowing criminal prosecutions to proceed while the land battle was still pending before the Supreme Court could render the intended appeal “nugatory”, stressing that the criminal process risked undermining issues still alive before the apex court.
Dispute stretches back 14 years
The Ramji family purchased the Athi River parcel from NSSF in 2010, receiving a registered title. But a dispute later erupted when Mombasa Cement claimed competing interest in the land, triggering litigation that travelled from the Environment and Land Court to the Court of Appeal.
In its 2023 judgment, the Court of Appeal dismissed Mombasa Cement’s counter-claim after finding that the company had no enforceable sale agreement with NSSF and that the Ramji family’s title, though marred by a clerical error in one transfer entry, remained valid. The judges concluded.
“There was evidence of a clerical error, but the certificate of title was properly issued”.
After losing, Mombasa Cement sought to escalate the fight to the Supreme Court, but the Court of Appeal in September 2024 rejected the company’s request for certification, ruling that the matter did not raise issues of general public importance.
The defeat and legal clash
Following this defeat, a fresh criminal complaint was filed, leading the DCI and DPP to initiate steps towards charging the Ramjis.
The accused argued before the Court of Appeal that the new criminal path was engineered to “intimidate and harass them in a bid to influence any further civil process” and that the complainants lacked authority to act on behalf of NSSF.
The judges agreed that the criminal process raised red flags, especially given the previous judicial finding that fraud had not been proven and that NSSF had not lodged any complaint.
The DCI arrests on 5 December appear to have overlooked the Court of Appeal’s categorical ruling, which stated:
“We hereby stay the 3rd respondent’s decision to arrest and prosecute the applicants”.
Lawyers for the Ramji family are now expected to return to court, arguing that the DCI acted in contempt of a subsisting appellate order.
With the land matter still awaiting potential Supreme Court action, the three arrests have introduced a dramatic twist to an already convoluted 14-year dispute, one now shifting into a fierce legal battle over the violation of a binding court stay.
