Property tycoon Harban Singh is dead. Singh is said to have died at the Agha Khan Hospital where he was taken to after falling and injuring his head
– Singh’s company, Airport View Housing Limited, was accused of grabbing Lang’ata Road Primary School playground in early 2015
A businessman who was accused of grabbing a school playground in Nairobi is dead.
According to The Star, Harban Singh died on Wednesday, March 2, while receiving treatment at the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi.
“The man popularly referred to as Amrit in the Asian community in Kenya, is said to have fallen and injured his head (on Monday, February 29),” the paper reported.
Harban Singh is said to have worked closely with the Kenyan government especially during Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi’s reigns.
The multi-billionaire with interests in construction, aviation, horticulture, property, tourism industry has been linked to grabbing of prime public lands in Nairobi.
In January 2015, the then lands cabinet secretary Charity Ngilu named a company owned by Harban Singh and his three sons as the one behind grabbing of Lang’ata Road Primary School playground.
Ngilu said the Airport View Housing Limited was owned by Harban Singh, Mandip Singh Amrit, Kamal Prakash Amrit and Manjit Singh Amrit.
Singh’s company had fenced off the playground in December 2014 when the schools were closed. The move sparked an outrage with some activists claiming that the playground was being hived off for a nearby hotel associated with Deputy President William Ruto.
After denying ownership of the Weston Hotel for a while, Ruto admitted that he had interests in the property. he however dismissed the allegations that the school playground was to be made a parking lot for Weston Hotel.
Both the Nairobi county and ministry of lands officials said that the land is belonged to Lang’ata Road Primary School.
National Lands Commission said Harban Singh’s Airport View Housing Limited irregularly acquired two title deeds for the plots 1989 and 1994.
The company went to court to stop Airport View moved to court last week seeking to stop the school from taking the land. The case is still going on but the pupils were access to the playground.
-tuko.co.ke
