Police arrest herbalist, accomplice in "murder" of Hot FM’s finance officer

The police in Accra have picked up a herbalist and an accomplice in connection with the murder of Nana Ndoli Panin III, the Baamuhene of Enchi Kramokrom in the Western North Region, who is also the finance officer of Hot FM, an Accra-based radio station.

This was after his body was found lying in a pool of blood on a bed at a hotel near the Takoradi lorry station at Kaneshie.

The suspects are Kwame Ofori Ogyaba, the deceased's friend and spiritual father, and Nana Kwame Kwakye, the accomplice.

The two suspects have been detained and are currently assisting the police in their investigation.

Briefing

According to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Accra Central Police Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Effia Tenge, at about 7:05 p.m. last Friday, the Assistant Manager of a hotel came to the Kaneshie Police Station and reported that they had discovered the body of one of their male clients dead in the hotel room.

Body discovered

She said the assistant hotel manager indicated that the male guest checked into the hotel room on Thursday, October 1, 2020.

But on his usual rounds of the hotel at about 6 p.m. the next day, he found one of his male guests lying motionless in a pool of blood on his bed in the hotel room.

DSP Tenge said based on the information the police immediately proceeded to the scene and invited the crime scene management team from the National Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to help in processing the scene.

She said as reported earlier, the police found the deceased in a pool of blood on his bed, and in the course of investigations a Toyota Rav 4 vehicle, believed to be that of the deceased, was retrieved from a location at the Takoradi lorry station and brought to the station.

Deceased identified

The body has been deposited at Police Hospital mortuary and that he was identified as Nana Ndoli Panin III.

DSP Tenge said preliminary investigations into the incident had revealed that at about 1 p.m. on October 1, 2020, while Nana Panin III was in his office, he received a phone call from his spiritual father (the herbalist) to meet him at the said hotel at Kaneshie.

He, therefore, left his office in a hurry and drove his Toyota Rav 4 with registration number GE 1730-09 to the Takoradi lorry station at Kaneshie where he parked and walked to meet the herbalist.

However, at about 6 p.m. on October 2, 2020, his lifeless body was discovered in the room of the hotel.

Investigations were extended to Amasaman and Asuoboi where two suspects were arrested.

Chinese hangs

In a separate development, a Chinese working with Casino Gold at Osu reported to the police that at about 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 3, 2020, she woke up and found out that a friend, also a Chinese, aged 27, had hanged himself in the bathroom.

Mrs. Tenge said police immediately proceeded to the scene together with the crime scene team and found the deceased in a sitting position in the bathroom.

Further information gathered by the police indicated that when the complainant sighted the deceased she raised an alarm which attracted others, who rushed to the scene in a bid to rescue the deceased, and sent him to the hospital, where it was discovered he had already passed on.

The scene was processed and the body was conveyed and deposited at the Police Hospital morgue awaiting autopsy.

The relations of the deceased in the country had been notified as investigation continued, DSP Tenge said.