The prime witness in the 11-year missing case of Smitha George from Kochi who went missing in Dubai, Devayani alias Annie, has committed suicide in CBI custody in Ahmedabad. Devayani, who had an alleged relationship with Smitha’s husband was also a suspect in the case.
The Times of India reports that Devayani was admitted to the intensive care unit in an Ahmedabad hospital for two weeks before she died on July 9. The autopsy report found poisoning as the cause of death.
Smitha George, a resident of Edapally in 2005, left for Dubai with her husband Antony, just days after her wedding. Smitha went missing two days after she reached Dubai. Though Antony claimed that Smitha eloped with someone, the family had suspicions in the beginning itself and alleged that Antony had killed her.
Devayani was allegedly in a live-in relationship with Antony, and had reportedly told police that she saw Antony banging Smitha’s head against the wall and threatening her with a knife. Police had made her a witness in the case.
“Though Devayani did not speak about her role in Smitha going missing, one cannot rule out the same. She would not have consumed poison if she had no role in the case,“ Shamsudheen Karunagappally, counsel for Smitha's family told ToI.
The ToI report by Wilson Thomas says that Devayani was a mysterious character. She was an orphan from Kannur district who was trapped in Dubai by her sponsor. Later she met Antony and they lived together for two years. In 2006, she got converted and adopted the name Mary. In 2007, in order to go back to Dubai, she fudged her name as Annie Varghese of Malappuram on her passport.