Three people were injured on Friday as the tussle surrounding the ownership of a 66-acre piece of land in Karen escalated.

The three suffered panga cuts when two groups clashed at the property that is claimed by the family of the late Kanji Naran Patel and businesswoman Dorcas Joan Kiptoo. 

On Friday-mid morning, bystanders along the Southern Bypass in Karen were witnesses to an unusual sight as an agitated gang of men ran amok on the side of the road.

Scores of people who were armed with rungus and machetes were seen running towards an excavator parked by the roadside.

Soon they took possession of it and set it ablaze. In the fracas that ensued, three people suffered injuries from panga cuts and were treated in nearby hospitals.

The group had come from the adjacent parcel of land; a 66-acre piece of land that has been the subject of an ownership tussle between two entities both claiming to be the rightful owner. Ya

The goons were later dispersed by police who turned up to restore law and order and they were seen disappearing into the vast disputed piece of land.

The family of the late Kanji Naran Patel and his son Arvind Kanji Patel and businesswoman Dorcas Joan Kiptoo both lay claim to the 66-acre piece of land located in the prime high-end Karen area of Nairobi.

According to Arvind Patel, the family has been managing the piece of land since 1995 when his father died.

He says the land has now been encroached upon by businesswoman Dorcas Kiptoo, whose activities he insists intensified early last month.

“On the 2nd of March, my client was alerted that some trespassers had entered his property that was leased out to tenants, storage of materials as a yard,” said Irfan Kassam, Arvind’s lawyer.

The complainants in the case now before court, the Patels, accuse the businesswoman of illegally gaining entry into their private property.

They say through hired goons, Dorcas had invaded the prime piece of land, chased away the occupants and tenants, destroyed structures built on the land and marked the property as a sign of occupation.

“My client had not constructed the fence on Southern Bypass, they were able to create a wall from end to end on one phase, and I am told the other side from the main entrance is still under construction,” Kassam added.

Arvind says the invasion of the land comes despite the presence of a court order barring the same obtained last month.

The court injunction issued by Justice Oguttu Mboya restrained Dorcas and two others from entering, remaining and/or in any other manner whatsoever interfering with the plaintiff's (Arvind Patel Kanji) rights over the property pending hearing and further directions.