Police in Murang’a County are investigating a case where a Catholic Priest died in a hotel room in Gatanga sub-county on Saturday morning.

According to Gatanga sub-county police commander Lawrence Njeru, the 43 years old Joseph Kariuki Wanjiru was in the company of a lady who is alleged to be his lover.

They spent the night in the hotel only for him to fall sick the following morning.

The 32-year-old lady is said to be a worker in the same church the priest serves.

It is said the priest consumed chicken and some liquor on Friday night before retiring for the night.

The hotel workers said he had patronized the hotel for the last two years.

After the incident happened, the lady notified the management of the hotel that the priest was unwell and was experiencing bouts of dizziness.

They covered him with a blanket and put him in his car and rushed him to Kenol Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

The lady who was accompanied by several workers of the hotel then headed to Samuru police post where they notified the police about the incident before recording a statement.

Njeru said they found the deceased’s body in the back of the vehicle half covered with a blanket.

“The body was fresh but had foam coming out of the mouth. We made inquiries and discovered that priests’ bodies cannot be preserved in a normal mortuary so we made arrangements to have it transported to Nairobi, accompanied by our officers."

Njeru however noted that investigations had commenced to establish the cause of his death.

“We interviewed his companion and she told us she had had an affair with the priest for the last six years,” the police boss further noted.