Court Frees Kenyan Socialite Accused of Stealing Dead Asian Tycoon's V8

Socialite Sheila Wairimu, alias Shay Diva Africa, has been released on bail in a case where she is accused of stealing deceased Asian tycoon Pankajkumar Juthalal Dodhia’s car.

Wairimu appeared before Kitale chief magistrate Julius Ng'arng'ar where she was charged with obtaining registration by false pretense and stealing.

The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges and was freed on a Sh100,000 cash bail or a Sh500,000 bond with a surety of a similar amount.

Wairimu, 30, is accused of accessing Dodhia’s NTSA account and transferring ownership of a vehicle to herself without following due processes of succession. 

Dodhia, who is said to have been Wairimu’s lover, passed away on April 22nd at the age of 61. She alleged that the deceased gifted her the car before he passed away.

Wairimu was arrested after the family of the deceased filed a complaint with the police, saying Dodhia only gave the car to her on a “use and return basis” since they were in a relationship.

Records from the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) show a transfer of the car’s logbook was done by a person who logged into Kumar’s TIMs account at 11.45 pm on April 26th, four days after his death. The authorization of transfer was granted at 2:00 pm the following day but there were no supporting documents from the owner.

Detectives tracked Wairimu to Kitengela where she lives and towed the Toyota Prado V8 registration number KCK 466N to Buruburu police station and later to Kitale where she was arrested while trying to reclaim it.

In defense, Wairimu claimed the luxury SUV was transferred to her without her knowledge and that she learned about it when she logged into her NTSA account.

The matter will be mentioned on July 19th.