Smitha, a newly-wed Indian woman who mysteriously disappeared from her husband’s apartment in Dubai 10 years ago, is most probably dead according to circumstantial evidence staring investigators in the face.
The statement given by Devayani, who is now in Crime Branch (CB) custody, that she was witness to a bloody altercation between Smitha and her husband Sabu Antony, the prime suspect in the case, read along with CB’s painstaking investigation exposing the ‘evidence’ fabricated by Antony corroborates such a possibility. Devayani, who had a live-in relation with Antony, has now emerged as the prime witness in the case.
The key now is to find the body to enable the CB to possibly invoke IPC Section 302 for murder against Antony. Else, the investigating agency may fall back on the Evidence Act whereby a person is presumed dead if he or she is not heard of for seven years. This would also enable CB to slap murder charge against the accused putting the onus of proving that his wife is alive on him.
Though CB had arrested Antony in February 2015, it was under bailable sections for forging a letter in the name of his wife to create the impression that she was alive and had eloped with her lover.
Odds were stacked against CB ever since it took over the investigation of the case in 2011, a good six years after Smitha’s disappearance. While a good share of evidence collection takes place from the crime scene , in this case it was not possible. There was nothing to fall back on except the version by Antony who had portrayed himself as a loving husband in search of his wife.
CB then sourced the letter presumably written by Smitha and proved that it was forged by Antony through forensic examination, which proved to be a turning point. It then tactfully got Antony, who was then in the US to return home and arrested him.
The agency was able to spot that Antony had fabcricated ‘evidence’ and discovered that the lady he mentioned as Mini with whom he shared the apartment was actually Devayani.
In the months since then CB had been on her trail. They undertook a detailed investigation about Devayani in her home district Kannur and got reports published in the media about her, which eventually prompted her to return home from Kuwait.
