Nairobi — A Teenager died in Embu after his parents allegedly refused to take him to hospital and instead locked him up in a house for six weeks.

The parents belong to the Kavonokia religious sect. Members of the sect do not subscribe to modern medicine but believe in prayers to heal the sick.

Muturi Karanja, who was a Standard Eight pupil at Urban Primary School in Embu, died on Friday.

Police and Children's department officers found the body on Monday evening in a rented room at Kimangaru market. The parents were allegedly arranging to bury it when the police and government officers arrived.

"It was a bad sight and the body bore signs of abuse," the Embu District Children's Officer Loise Gikuhi, said.

Gikuhi had gone to the home on the strength of a court order issued by the Embu Resident Magistrate, R M Mochache.

Mochache had ordered that the body of Karanja be collected by police and a post mortem conducted under supervision.

The parents were ordered to appear in court today to show cause why action should not be taken against them.