10 years on, Devayani held for murder
Devayani had gone to Kuwait on a fake passport under false identity as Ann Varghese
KOCHI: The Crime Branch team probing the disappearance of Edapally native Smitha in Dubai a decade ago took into custody Devayani, a key suspect, from Kannur on Thursday.
She was brought to Kochi for further interrogation, Crime Branch police superintendent K.G. Simon told DC.
“We have recorded her statement which needed to be verified with other details of the case,” he said.
Her arrest was not recorded. She had arrived in Kannur from Kuwait three days ago and the probe team nabbed her from there, he said.
Devayani had gone to Kuwait on a fake passport under false identity as Ann Varghese.
According to Mr Simon, the local police will file a separate case against her in connection with the fake passport. Devayani, suspected to be an accomplice of Antony, husband of Smitha, was present in Dubai when Smitha disappeared from there. Smitha, married to Antony on May 2005, disappeared three days after she landed in Dubai to join her husband in September 2005.
Antony, a native of Thoppumpady, who was employed in Dubai, had informed the parents of Smitha that she had eloped with her lover after writing a letter.
On getting the information, a relative of Smitha in Dubai went to the residence of Antony and became suspicious about his version. Devayani was present in the apartment when he visited Antony.
A quarrel took place between Antony and the relative that led to a case against the three by the Dubai police. Based on the information given by the relative, the parents of Smitha approached the Kerala police and filed a case against Antony alleging that he had either pushed Smitha into sex trade or murdered her.
Antony meanwhile left Dubai and settled in the US. After a decade-long investigation, the Crime Branch police in Kochi arrested Antony in February 2015. Currently,
Antony is on bail. The parents of Smitha had gone to UAE after the police summoned them to identify a body kept in a morgue in a hospital.
A DNA test conducted by the UAE police of the close relatives of Smitha, however, did not match that of the body. The UAE police have taken a second batch of samples from the parents of Smitha and relatives for testing.