Nation Media Group’s senior reporter Walter Menya has been detained for a day at the Muthaiga police station.
Principal Magistrate Martha Mutuku directed that he be detained for a day so the police can take his fingerprints.
The prosecution made an application to remand him for three days.
Mutuku directed that Menya be released by 5pm today after the police are through.
She also ordered that his lawyers be allowed access to him after Siaya Senator James Orengo said since Sunday he has been denied access to his legal team.
The case will be mentioned today for further direction.
Menya was arrested on Sunday on suspicion of taking a bribe from a news source. He was charged yesterday morning.
However, he did not plead to any charges and the prosecution sought three days to conclude investigations.
Corporal Moses Gituatha told the court Menya’s arrest was a follow-up to a report by complainant Kennedy Koros, alleging that he demanded Sh50,000 so he could publish a story which interested Koros in the Sunday Nation.
He further claimed Menya received a down payment of Sh32,000 through M-Pesa between June 15 and 17.
It is alleged that he published the story with the headline ‘Civil Servants in JP Foundation say all they want is to alleviate poverty’ and went to Koros to collect the balance after the story was published.
Gituatha told principal magistrate Mutuku they intend to charge him with demanding property with menaces.
“During the arrest, Menya was found in possession of Sh20,000 which was treated for purposes of evidence collection after the report was made and kept as the exhibit.” The affidavit reads.
Gituatha said the money recovered on Menya and the clothes he was wearing are yet to be submitted to the government chemist.
It was further claimed police intend to visit Menya’s office at Nation Centre and his home during working days and office hours. Menya, through his lawyer Orengo, opposed the application to have him detained for three days. He told the court the prosecution did not have compelling reasons to warrant his detention.
He further told the court if indeed Menya is guilty then it is a contract between Koros and him and the complainant is equally culpable.