The killing of Karan Singh Dhilion in Westlands, Nairobi, last Friday has disrupted operations of the family’s business empire that includes commercial wheat production and transport.
His demise is a big blow to the empire, given that three years ago, Karan’s father Sukhider Dhilion died and shortly after his younger brother followed suit.
Gangsters reportedly accessed Karan’s house after poisoning his dogs, shot him dead and left without stealing anything.
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He was alone in the house at the time of the attack, which those close to him claim was linked to a business deal gone sour.
His long-time friend Bobby Okoth, who lived with him, was in Narok at the time of the incident.
Karan, who was depended on by many small and large-scale wheat farmers for buying their produce especially when prices were bad, took over the management of the family business and it was doing well before the assassins felled him.
He had, his friends say, entered into an agreement with millers to transport wheat for them, adding that the family business was doing better than ever.
Before buying and transporting wheat, the family used to plough thousands of acres of the crop.
Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) managing director Lucas Meso urged the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) boss George Kinoti to undertake thorough investigations to bring to book Karan’s killers.
Return money
“He was one of the prominent farmers and businessmen not only in Narok area, but the entire country. He was able to purchase wheat and maize from local farmers worth more than Sh1 billion each year,” said Meso.
Earlier, the family which migrated to Narok in the 1960s, had interest in retail and wholesale shops in Narosura before diversifying and expanding to other parts of the county.
Their grandfather, who was well-liked by locals, was the first Asian to arrive in Narok to engage in business.
Members of the family were assimilated by the locals whose dialects they fluently spoke and were even given Maasai names.
They could attend unhindered all the community meetings and traditional ceremonies.
“He was a kind-hearted person. He used to give us soft loans to do farming. After harvesting, we returned the money,” says Lekina Kameto, a large-scale farmer in Ololulunga and Nkorinkori wheat belts and also the Narok Cereal Growers Association secretary.
Kameto said the two spoke earlier last week to arrange how he could transport wheat seeds and fertilisers to his farms in readiness for planting later this month.
David Okeyo, a bartender in Narok and a close friend of Karan, said the latter visited him on Wednesday last week and they spent the day together before Karan left for Nairobi before midnight.
Buy wheat
“He was in good spirits. He ordered for us mbuzi choma and took his whisky… I didn’t know that I was seeing him for the last time,” said Okeyo.
“He had many friends. Even those he didn’t know benefitted from his generosity,” he said.
Abdulkadir Said, a field manager of Eldoret Grains Ltd, said Karan was their customer, adding that the company used to buy wheat in bulk from his farms and was also their transporter.
“He was a trusted player in the wheat market. It is a blow to those who depended on him including us the millers,” he said.
