Detectives are camping at a church in Rongo, Migori County, after two congregants died while 57 were rescued from the compound.
Police said the 57 people who were rescued refused to be treated at a local hospital where they had been taken for attention.
They are being detained at a local police station while weak as police consult on the way forward.
Police were on Monday, April 21 2025, informed there was a body lying at the Church in Kanyadiedo sub-location, East Kamagambo location, before rushing there.
The team found the body lying on the floor of a prayer room within the church compound.
According to police, the body was fully covered in a white robe and wrapped in a grey sheet at that time.
Police said the body had some injuries on the face, and foam was oozing from the mouth.
Earlier in the day, another body was recovered from the same place, police said.
The bodies were moved to the local morgue pending autopsy and other procedures.
The police conducted a search in the church and managed to rescue 57 people residing there.
Police said some of them were looking weak, and the group was then escorted to Rongo Sub-County hospital for medical attention, but all of them refused to be examined by medical officers.
They began to make noises and singing religious songs.
When they persisted, the medical officers advised that the group be removed from the hospital since they were disturbing the other patients at the facility.
Police said they were taken to the station to await further directives.
This is the second such incident to happen in the area amid a probe into claims of occultism.
A police officer believed to have been radicalised was buried at a church compound in Kamagambo, Migori county, prompting police investigations.
Police have blamed occultism for the incident and declared the teachings at the church in Opapo village in Kamagambo are misleading.
The officer died on March 27, 2025, following a sickness, before his body was interred at the church the following day.
Obura was a police officer based at the General Service Unit headquarters in Nairobi.
His wife told police he fell sick as they were at home and decided to take him to the church in Opapo village in Kamagambo for prayers.
He, however, died on the way, and they arrived at the church in the night on March 27 at about 8 pm.
The following day, the woman obtained a burial permit from a local assistant chief.
The chief did not know where the body was to be interred, he said.
Armed with the permit, the woman and a few church members buried the body within the compound.
Some family members told police they had complained about the church in the past, arguing their son had been radicalised by the teachings.
The father of Obura had reported the issue to the police, who visited the church at one time.
It is not clear what action was taken then.
Police said they are investigating the incidents.
There was no immediate comment from the church leadership over the incident.
Cases of occultism have been on the rise.
