Controversial Malindi-based Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 17 other suspects will remain in police custody for 30 more days, Shanzu Magistrate court has ruled.
The 30-day detention begins on May 3.
The court ruled on May 10 giving police more time to investigate the matter.
The suspect, who is being held in connection with the deaths of more than 133 people that allegedly starved to death and others were killed in Shakahola forest, has been behind bars since his arrest last month.
The Office of the Director of Criminal Investigation (ODPP) had filed an application last week before Shanzu senior principal magistrate Yusuf Shikanda to continue holding Mackenzie and 17 others for 90 days.
They are facing serious crimes of murder, counseling and aiding persons to kill themselves, aiding suicide, abduction, radicalization, genocide, crimes against humanity, child cruelty, fraud, and money laundering.
Mackenzie as well as 17 others will be held at Malindi, Marereni, Watamu, Mtwapa, and Bamburi police stations as recommended by the government.
Mackenzie and his co-accused are facing charges under the Terrorism Act for suspected cultic activities that have led to the exhumation of over 100 bodies in Shakahola.
The exhumation of bodies from 20 identified graves is ongoing.
Questions have been raised about how Mackenzie managed to evade law enforcement despite a history of extremism and previous legal cases.
The former taxi driver turned himself in on April 14 after police acting on a tip-off first entered Shakahola forest, where some 30 mass graves have now been found.
Prosecutors were asking to hold the father of seven, who founded the Good News International Church in 2003.
The entire 50,000-acre Chakama ranch remains a security area and scene of the crime with limited access for all persons who are unauthorized.
Dozens more bodies are believed to be buried in shallow graves therein.
Mackenzie, who is in police custody, is being investigated for influencing his followers to starve to death in order to meet their maker.
Police also suspect that some of the victims did not starve to death and may have been killed and then buried on the property.
He has denied wrongdoing but has been refused bail.
He insists that he shut down his church in 2019.
The followers say he told them to starve themselves in order to “meet Jesus“.