After nude photos purportedly belonging to sports CS Echesa were leaked yesterday and reportedly photoshoped again to match Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala, the police have today arrested three journalists in connection with the same.
The three are, David Ndolo, Stafford Ondego, and Alex Njue who were arrested on Tuesday and taken to KICC police station.
According to Malala and the police, they allegedly took the senator’s image, cropped the head and placed it on a naked body.
Malala said there was a demeaning photo of the said official in a lodging with a woman in a compromising position.
“When the photo went viral, the official told the journalists to photoshop the image and replace his face with mine,” Malala said.
“I was tipped about what happened and I got police to arrest the journalists,” Malala said at Bunge Media Centre on Wednesday.
Malala further claimed that the official paid the journalists Sh5,000 through M-Pesa.
“The journalists’ phones and laptops have been confiscated. We are going to record a statement with the DCI,” Malala said.
Cleophas Malala and Sports CS Rashid Echesa have been engaging in a war of words ever since Malala became CS.
Echesa once cautioned Mr. Malala to stop taking ill of the deputy president William Ruto since it is the DP that actually built him his home at a cost of 7 million shillings.
“It’s so unfortunate that my brother Malala is calling the Deputy President a thief yet Mheshimiwa Ruto built a Sh7 million house for him when he was still an MCA.” Rashid told host Ken Indimuli of Bungoma based Nyota TV.
“It’s me who took Malala to Mr Ruto’s home in Eldoret where Malala begged for a house because he was still staying in a rental house, a whole MCA.”
Just three months ago, three people were seriously injured when a convoy belonging to Senator Malala was attacked by violent youths chanting pro-Rashid songs at Mayoni in Kakamega County.
The arrested journalist, if found guilty will have to part with close to 5 million shillings to secure their freedom. This is according to the computer misuse and cyber-crimes act.
CS Echesa is yet to give an opinion on the arrests made today.