Clues with Morgan Absher and Kaelyn Moore - Honeymoon in Cape Town: Who Killed Anni Dewani?

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

On the night of November 13, 2010, newlyweds Anni and Shrien Dewani were riding through Cape Town when their taxi was hijacked in Gugulethu township. Shrien was forced out of the car. Anni was not. Hours later, her body was found in the abandoned vehicle — shot once in the neck. What followed was one of the most controversial murder cases of the decade: a grieving husband, an explosive accusation, a years-long extradition battle spanning two continents, and a verdict that left millions asking if justice was ever truly served. Morgan and Kaelyn trace the evidence from a South African township to the courts of London, and ask the question that still divides the public — what really happened on that honeymoon night? Head over to our Clues YouTube channel to WATCH this episode: https://www.youtube.com/@CluesPod If you’re new here, don’t forget to follow Clues  to never miss a case! To hear episodes ad-free and released a day early, subscribe to Crime House+. Join at crimehouseplus.com or if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts, tap “Try Free” at the top of this show’s page. Clues is a Crime House Original Podcast, powered by PAVE Studios. 🎧 Need More to Binge?  Listen to other Crime House Originals including Crime House 24/7, Crimes Of…, Serial Killers & Murderous Minds, Murder True Crime Stories and more wherever you get your podcasts! Follow us on Social YouTube: @CluesPod | @crimehousestudios Instagram: @cluespodcast | @Crimehouse TikTok: @Crimehouse Facebook: @crimehousestudios X: @crimehousemedia Clues is hosted by Morgan Absher & Kaelyn Moore  Instagram: @morgsyabsher | @itskaelynmoore TikTok: @twohottakes | @heartstartspounding Episode Sponsors: Go to https://www.BuyRaycon.com/CLUESOPEN to get 15% off. Thanks Raycon for sponsoring! Get started now at https://www.HelloAlma.com/CLUES Go to https://www.SolaceHealth.com to see if you qualify. It takes about two minutes, and it’s covered by insurance. Must be 18 or older. Advocates do not provide medical or legal advice. Visit https://www.MinkyCouture.com and use code CLUES at checkout for 50% off all full priced blankets. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi listeners, it's Carter Roy, host of Murder True Crime Stories. I want to let you know that Crime House Plus and Murder True Crime Stories are celebrating America's 250th by dropping a four-part limited series on the crimes that built America. These are the crimes and cases that gave us Miranda rights, sparked criminal profiling, and a murder that built America's Missing Children Movement. Follow murder, true crime stories for a new episode every Monday leading up to July 4th, or you can binge all of them right now, add free with Crimehouse Plus. To join, go to CrimehousePlus.com, or if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, tap try free at the top of this show's page. This is Crime House.

Ani Hendoja had just had her lavish dream wedding, and she and her husband were headed out on a honeymoon safari in South Africa. But midway through their trip, the dream turned into a nightmare when a romantic dinner became a murder investigation. Hi guys, welcome back to Clues, where we sneak past the crime scene tape to explore the key evidence behind some of the most gripping true crime cases. I'm Keel Moore, and I'm going to be the one digging deeper into the timelines, the backstories, and the court files released on these cases. And I'm your internet sleuth, Morgan Abshur. I'm the one who's diving into anything I can find online to talk about the lesser known details and pull out the threads that just don't add up. Don't forget to share your thoughts on social.

Want ad free and early access to clues and the rest of the crimehouse lineup? Subscribe to Crimehouse Plus and get at least two bonus episodes from across Crimehouse every month. To join, go to CrimehousePlus.com. Or if you listen on Apple Podcasts, tap try free at the top of the clues page. Now let's get into Ani Hindocha Diwani's case and the clues that defined it. Staples preferred business membership built for busy business owners because you've got bigger things to think about. With Staples Preferred, get free delivery.

No minimums. Staples Preferred unlocks up to 3% back. Plus 10% savings on print and exclusive wireless offers. One less thing on your plate. Actually, a lot less. Visit staples.ca slash preferred. That was easy. Before we jump in, can I shout out a listener?

Yes, of course. Okay, so we got a comment on the episode we did about Daniel Robinson, and I thought it was really interesting because we have a lot of listeners that just have a lot of really interesting jobs. So this comes from Leah Jackson and she writes, as someone who sequences DNA for a living, DNA amplification and sequencing would cost only about $20. What? And this can be even cheaper if they're just comparing DNA bands on a gel. Not entirely sure what that means, but girl, love it. I did DNA gel stuff in college.

It was so crazy. Oh, really? Yeah, you see it. Little secret. It's, we, again, we're going to find her and we're going to go do a shadow with her. I know. She says whenever DNA doesn't get tested on these cases, it has nothing to do with the cost or accessibility of the lab work, which is frustrating when you hear that DNA swabs never got tested. Which is interesting because I'm actually covering a case now for hearts and hearts pounding, which deals with rape kits, which are like the number one thing that never gets tested.

And it just goes to show how inexpensive some of this stuff could be. I know. I wanted to give Mariska Hargitay a shout out because she, she. She's one of the main actresses on Law and Order SVU and she's done amazing work getting unprocessed essay kits process. I think she just cleared out one state. I'm going to look it up a little bit more. I remember reading that she like paid for an entire state's backlog to get tested,

which if it's only $20, more people need to step up and do that. I'll fund a couple with you. Literally, no, I was thinking about that too, yeah. Yeah, so she has a campaign. It's called End the Backlog. and essentially they have driven reform legislation in all 50 states to start processing these and just make big moves. Wow, that's amazing. Mirishka.

Incredible. But we have a big one that we're going to dive into today. Yeah, this one is very complex. It is twisty buckle up. And I just want to preface at the beginning. We're going to pronounce Ani's name the way her family pronounces it. Yeah. I've watched quite a few interviews and documentaries with them.

And a lot of the news sources pronounce it Annie, but family says Ani. Yeah, we were just talking about how this is Indian family who was living in Uganda and then moved to Sweden and this case takes place in South Africa. So there's a lot of news organizations pronouncing all of these names and locations every which way. And we're trying to stick to the family's pronunciations as we go along. Yes. And we're also going to be using her maiden name, Hindocha, more so than Dawani, which is her husband's last name, as they were just married. for such a short time and more so to respect her family's wishes too. Yes. Yes. So that being said, let's dive in. And just a quick reminder, if you are watching this on YouTube, you're going to see some of the stuff we're talking about, some of the images,

the videos, the maps. And if you're listening, you can see all those same assets on our Instagram. That's at Clues Podcast. Follow us on Instagram there. Anyways, we cover a lot of stuff there. Yes. We are going to be talking a little bit over there about the Alec Murdaugh overturning the conviction. Oh, my gosh. Because we got a lot of messages from you guys asking us our thoughts on that. So that'll be over on our social. And we're in the Netflix documentary that just came out about it. I know. We were shocked to see that. We had no idea, you guys. And listeners kept sending me like screenshots of us on Netflix. And I was like, what is this? What is this? I'm finally on Netflix, Mom. I made it. It's funny because it's Morgan, like, very thoughtfully explaining something she had researched and then me going, oh my God. And I don't know why they left that in, but like, whatever.

They wanted to give you your moment to shine, too. Right. No, I was talking about how a woman bought their vacuum at an auction. I'm like of all the clips where I say cool stuff, it had to be the vacuum dirt. No, listen. It's fine. All right. So with that being said, let's get into it. This case begins on the evening of November 12, 2010. 30-year-old Sri and Diwani and his new wife, 28-year-old Anni, step off a plane in Cape Town, South Africa for their honeymoon. They've spent the last four days on the opposite side of the country, spotting lions, elephants, and rhinos in Kruger, National Park, and now they're switching from safari to luxury. It's already been a long day for the couple. After traveling from Kruger to Johannesburg, they caught a two-hour flight to Cape Town. So Ani and Shrian are exhausted when they step outside the airport and they see a huge line for a taxi. But Shrian spots a driver nearby next to a Volkswagen minivan. They start chatting, and the driver, who's this 31-year-old named Zolatongo, says that he can take them to their hotel. It's 20 minutes away and he can do it for a reasonable price.

This is not how you're supposed to get a ride out of Cape Town. It's a little bit risky because it's not an authorized airport taxi. However, the couple decides that it's worth it and they're going to travel with Tango. They arrive safely at the five-star Cape Grace Hotel on the waterfront, the kind of place where Bill Clinton and Clint Eastwood have stayed in the past. And the ride actually goes so well that Shrean asks Tango to come back tomorrow and drive them to dinner. After checking in, Ani goes up to the room while Shriyan returns outside to make arrangements with Tango. Around 5.30 p.m., the couple heads to the room to freshen up, and they grab dinner at the

waterside restaurant nearby, and they're back to the hotel at around 11.30 p.m. Then the next day, that's November 13th. Ani and Shrian spend the day at the hotel pool. Shrian makes a brief trip out, driven by Tango, as was arranged the night before, to exchange U.S. dollars for South African RAND. And around 6 p.m., they get dressed for dinner, they have a drink at the hotel bar, and they wait for Tongo, who arrives at 7.30 p.m. in that same minivan. Ani is wearing a black cocktail dress, a white gold, and diamond bracelet, an Armani wristwatch, plus her diamond engagement ring, and her new wedding band. Shrian was wearing a dark suit, an open colored shirt, and had no tie on. They have reservations at a fine dining restaurant in wine country, which is 30 miles from Cape Town. But on the way, they They actually decide that they want something lighter. Tongos suggests a seaside spot in the former resort town of Strand, 30 minutes southeast. They take them up on this suggestion, and they end up getting sushi, followed by a romantic walk on the beach. At around 10.15 p.m., they get back in Tongos minivan.

They should be back at their hotel within an hour to end this, like, pretty lovely day. But that doesn't happen. Instead, at around 11.30 p.m., Shrian is frantically banged. hanging on a stranger's door in a slum on the outskirts of Cape Town. Ani is not with him. Ani Hindocha will never be seen alive again. But let's rewind just a little bit and talk a bit more about who Ani was. So both of Ani's parents were of Indian descent with roots in the state of Gujarat, but they grew up in Uganda.

However, in the 1970s, they were forced out along with other Asians that were living in the country. And eventually, Ani's father, Vinod Hindocha, met her mother, Nelam in the United Kingdom. him. They fell in love, they married, they settled in Maristad, Sweden, and there, Vanad rebuilt his life from nothing. As a gifted engineer and a businessman, he found work making electronic parts for the oil and gas industry. And then on March 12, 1982, baby Ani Handocha was born. Ani was the second born. She had an older sister and a younger brother soon followed. And in 1988, Vanad co-founded his own company, which pushed the family into the upper middle class. Ani grew up in a three-story house with a jacuzzi playing competitive hockey and watching her father manage a global business.

Ani really admired her dad, so she followed in his footsteps, and she became an engineer as well, and then a product designer for a Swedish cell phone company. She also worked part-time as a model because on top of being so successful, she's just also gorgeous. That was actually because her dad encouraged her to do it. He called her, quote, the most beautiful girl in the world. And if you see photos of her, I think you would agree. By 2009, 27-year-old Anni felt there was only one thing missing. That was a husband. She was raised with a strong sense of heritage.

She spoke fluent Gujarati, and she wanted her husband to be Indian and speak Gujarati, too. The problem was, though, there weren't a lot of single Indian men in Sweden. So, Ani asked her mother's family over in the UK if they could set her up. And that fall, one of Anni's aunts spotted a handsome young businessman at a party in London and got his phone number for Ani. His name was Shrian Dewani. He was two years older than Ani and he was very successful. It was known that he was already a millionaire. And Shrian's family was also from Gujarat and then Uganda and Kenya, but he had grown up in Bristol, England. So they shared like a lot of similar backstory. Shrian went to a prestigious prep school. He then

studied accounting at University of Manchester. And after college, he spent a few months teaching in Ghana before he returned to London to build his career. He took a a job with this massive accounting firm there. But he just wasn't satisfied working on other people's businesses, basically. So in 2005, when he was 25 years old, he left to take over his family's nursing home business alongside his brother. And under their leadership, the company really, really grew. It earned millions of pounds per year. And by 2009, Shrian started planning for their next stage. And that was going to be a chain of luxury nursing homes for wealthy British seniors. Basically, to Ani's family, Shriand, Shriand,

and sounded like a perfect match. But Ani wanted love, not just a resume that someone had. So there was a lot writing on their first date when they went out together in September of 2009. Anni traveled from Sweden to Bristol, where he took her to a West End production of the Lion King. It went well, but when you talked to her family about it, they said that she didn't like him very much at this first date. I know. Hearing her sister talk about how Ani mentioned their first date, she was like, she wasn't into him. Yeah, not super into him, but still he invited her to dinner at a five-star hotel for their second date. And from that second date, it seems like she slowly started to like him more and more each time they saw each other. By the time Ani had returned to Sweden, it was clear that Shrian was serious. He sent flowers to her office every day. They started seeing each other every weekend.

They alternated between Bristol and Sweden. And in November of 2009, just two months in, Shrian met Anni's parents in Sweden, and he. He really impressed them. But before accepting him into the family, her parents called their friends and family because they wanted to do a little bit of digging. The Gujarati community in the area was very tight-knit. It was one of those communities where everyone knows everyone. So he felt comfortable asking people what they knew about him. Yeah, what's the dirt on this guy?

Is there anything we should worry about? 100% as any parent would. And the reviews pretty much all came back positive. The only thing was that Shriand had actually been engaged once before. and he abruptly called it off after hosting a very lavish engagement party. But to Ani's parents, that didn't really seem like a deal breaker, and they gave the couple their blessing. Shrian didn't propose right away, though. The couple had only ever dated long distance, and he wanted to make sure that this was the real deal before he committed. So in early 2010, Ani moved to Bristol and joined his nursing home company.

And finally, that June, Shrian rented a private jet to fly her to the Hotel Ritz in Paris. And that's where he popped the question with a diamond ring worth 25,000 British pounds. That's about $34,000 US at today's exchange rate. And five months later, on October 19th, 2010, they had a traditional Indian wedding in Mumbai with 300 guests. Ani was carried in on a golden chair. She was wearing a dark green sari with gold bangles and this elaborate henna that she had. There were elephants at the party. We're going to insert some clips of this wedding for you guys to see.

I mean, the most beautiful bride. Beautiful. There's videos of them dancing. It just looks like it was a really nice wedding. And everyone celebrating Ani. Everyone loved her. Adored her. It was just, it was a day for her.

And then around November 8th, they set off for their South African honeymoon. Shrian picked the destination because they had not been there before. He hadn't been there. She hadn't been there either. And he made all of the arrangements for this trip. Ani actually didn't even know where they were going until it was all. Almost time to leave. Yeah. And if you hear from her sister, once she found out where they were going, her sister said that she didn't even want to go. Yeah. She was like confused as to why they were going there. Yeah. She was like, I don't want to go.

Yeah. And that just gives me so much anxiety of planning a whole trip. And then I don't know where we're going until the last minute. I like to plan a little bit more than that. Absolutely. And it seemed like Ani was maybe having a gut feeling about this because on November 13th, 2010, the honeymoon ended abruptly and very tragically for Ani. That brings us back to the night Shrian and Ani went out for dinner. At 11.30 p.m., Shrian is banging on the doors in Kailisha. It's a township outside of Cape Town. It's not a safe place for tourists alone at night. It's well known to be a rougher area with a high crime rate. However, Shrian got really lucky with the door he chose because the door he was banging on

actually belonged to a government employee with a cousin in law enforcement. So they were able to get a hold of police relatively quickly. and once they arrived, Shrian calmed down enough to give a statement. His story is our first clue. According to Shrian, after dinner, their driver, Tango, took them on a tour of Cape Townships. Shrian told the police that this was actually Ani's idea. Earlier that night, on the way to dinner, Shrian had said that their taxi driver, Tongo, had briefly driven them through a township called Guguletu.

One of the more tourist-friendly townships, at least during the day, Shrian said that Ani had found the wealthy parts of South Africa a bit boring, not that much different from Europe and what they see at home. So at her request after dinner, Tango drove them back to the now deserted main road of Guguletu. At around 10.45 p.m., Tongo stopped at a stop sign, and that is when two armed carjackers appeared from the darkness. They forced their way into the minivan. One shoved Tango aside and took the wheel. The other wedged himself into the back seat with Ani and Shrian. He then sped to the nearest gas station, forced Tongo out at gunpoint, and went east away from Cape Town.

In Kailetsha, about 15 minutes southeast of Guguletu, they stopped again. They screamed at Shrian to get out of the car without Ani. He said that he tried to refuse. He even begged them to just take all their valuables and let them both go. Instead, one of the hijackers pressed a gun to his head. And there were actually child locks on the back doors. So this prevented them from opening those minivan doors from inside. So they actually shoved Shrian out through the rear window head first as he begged them not to separate him from Ani.

Then they sped off with Ani screaming in the back seat. Suddenly, Shrian is alone. Middle of the night in Kailisha. No money, no phone, dirt road, no street lights. And that's when he started banging on doors at 1130. p.m. He said he had no idea where they took Anni or who they were even. Within hours, though, at least one of those questions would be answered and in the most horrifying way possible. This episode is brought to you by Raycon. If you're still figuring out what to get the dad in your

life for Father's Day, I have you covered. Raycon's essential open earbuds have been a total game changer for me personally because it feels like they were made for dads. Whether he's out for walks, puttering around the yard, or just someone who's never really indoors, these are going to get used. I have been using my Racon earbuds for a while now, and I love that they fit so seamlessly in my ears, and I can move around a lot and go to the gym, and they just don't ever fall out. I also really love all of the colors that they offer for Racon earbuds. Upgrade your dad's everyday routine. Go to buy raycon.com slash clues open to get 15% off. Thanks Racon for sponsoring.

Hi, listeners, it's Carter Roy, host of murder, true crime stories. I want to let you know that Crime House Plus and murder true crime stories are celebrating America's 250th by dropping a four-part limited series on the crimes that built America. These are the crimes and cases that gave us Miranda rights, sparked criminal profiling, and a murder that built America's missing children movement. Follow murder, true crime stories for a new episode every Monday leading up to July 4th, or you can binge all of them right now, add free with Crimehouse Plus. To join, go to CrimehousePlus.com, or if you're listening on Apple Podcasts,

tap Try Free at the top of this show's page. This episode is brought to you by Alma. Alma is on a mission to simplify access to high-quality, affordable mental health care. When you want to talk to a therapist, the last thing you want to do is fight with insurance. figure out if someone's available. Like the process can be so long that it actually turns you off from doing it. But Alma has built a community of over 26,000 diverse therapists. Also, clients with insurance pay $20 on average. Which is so important. 98% of their therapists actually accept insurance, which makes it easy to get affordable mental health care. And you can know exactly how much

you'll pay up front with their free insurance cost estimator calculator. We've had listeners comment about Alma and how beneficial it's been for them. I've loved online therapy in the past, taking my sessions from the comfort of my car, my bed, wherever. And with Alma making it more affordable, it could be a great time to try. Yes, over one million people have found care with Alma. Get started now at helloalma.com slash clues. That's helloalma.com slash C-L-U-E-S. A little after midnight on November 14th, 2010, police took Shrian back to the Cape Grace Hotel while they searched for Ani. They quickly got confirmation on at least part of his story.

While Shrian was in Kailicha looking for help, Tango had walked into the Gugula 2 police station and reported the hijacking. He said his phone was stolen and he had forgotten his passenger's name since he had only met them the day before. But he did remember the hotel where they were staying, the Cape Grace. Around midnight, police brought Tango to the hotel to find his passengers and Shrian was arriving at the same moment, also in a police car. inside, Shrian immediately spotted Tango and asked if he was okay. The reunion filled in some gaps, but neither man knew where to find Ani. So the police launched a massive all-night search of the townships, focusing on Google Etu and Kailicha, calling every available officer.

A few hours later, they located an abandoned minivan parked on a road in Kailicha. Early on November 14th, less than 10 hours after the carjacking, police surrounded the van. Inside, they found Ani's motionless body in the backseat, soaked in blood. Sadly, Ani's body is our second clue. A paramedic did confirm she was dead and then completed a declaration of death report, which is required in South Africa when pronouncing someone dead. According to that report, Ani had been shot in the neck and had two or three small stab wounds on her back from a blade about half an inch wide. The paramedic saw no evidence of a struggle, no signs of assault.

But the paramedic wasn't the only medical professional on the scene. A forensic pathologist was also called out and later performed Ani's autopsy. She agreed there was no sexual assault, but she found something the paramedic had missed. There were actually finger-shaped bruises on Ani's inner thighs as if she had been forcibly grabbed. She also found bullet wounds suggesting a bullet had passed through Ani's hand, grazed her chest and left. shoulder and then went through her neck and that is what killed her. And this essentially proved to the examiner that Ani was trying to cover her face and neck when she was shot. They also found the gun was five to ten centimeters from her skin, extremely close range, basically suggesting

that this was an execution. Now, the gun was later recovered at a shack in Kailicha, making that our third clue. The gun was a 7662 millimeter Norinko semi-automatic. pistol. It's one of the cheapest handguns on the market. The serial number had actually been filed off, but forensics were able to recover it and police did trace it to its registered owner. He was a 40-year-old South African man who worked at a shop-right grocery store. He told investigators that the gun had been stolen out of his safe without his knowledge. However, he did fail to report it as stolen. Police did believe this story and from everything us and our research, could find, that's kind of what they did with it. They took it at face value and didn't really

investigate any further into how these people got their hands on his gun. And they also cleared him as a suspect. They also didn't charge him for failing to report a stolen firearm, which is a crime in South Africa. And again, as we can tell, no further investigation into gun, its owner, or how the suspects were able to get their hands on it. That's just wild to me. It does. It does feel a little bit of a botch. It does. I mean, I guess botched because it's a crime and they didn't convict him in general. And I feel like this is one where maybe every step of the way they needed to be taking note and actually, I don't know, making arrests and filing charges for all of the crimes that were surrounding her murder, you know?

It just seems like you have these laws in place for a reason to prevent guns from ending up in the wrong hands. and you didn't follow a step. I mean, it's one of those things, too. Like, I was reading more about the area, and it's a place that has at least, at least like around the time of Annie's death. I think there was a murder every two and a half days, something like that.

There were a lot of murders that they were investigating. Yeah. Maybe they just didn't have the resources to make arrests on, like, smaller. Or petty. Yeah, misdemeanors or whatever you want. I don't know, but it is frustrating to hear in hindsight. It is. And you know, it could also have been ignored because police were busy following

what they thought was a stronger lead because they were able to find a thumb and a fingerprint on the minivan's left rear fender. Clue number four for us here. A search of the national database actually got a match for them. The prints actually belonged to a 26-year-old man named Colile Mingeni, who had been arrested five years earlier for allegedly killing a man in a bar fight. Those charges were later dropped, but by 2010, Colile was unemployed and living with family in Kailetsha, close to where the minivan was actually abandoned. So the police placed the area under surveillance and began the process of getting an arrest warrant for him. That same day, November 14th, Shrian called Ani's father Vinod before he knew that her body had been found.

He told Vanad that Ani had been kidnapped and he apologized for not protecting her. Vannad immediately booked a flight to South Africa thinking that he might need to pay a ransom. And Srian's father, Prakash Dawani, also volunteered to help. The two planned to meet in Amsterdam and then fly to Cape Town together. But during their layover, Vinad called home, and that's when he found out that Ani had been murdered. Vanad and Prakash boarded the Cape Town flight anyway to bring Ani's body home. They arrived in Cape Town a little after midnight on Monday, November 15th, where Swedish and British diplomats escorted them to the Cape Grace Hotel.

The following morning, Vinaud wanted to see Anni's body at the morgue, but Shrian talked him out of it, and he thought that was a little strange. Shrian said she was, quote, all drained out and needed to be freshened up with embalming fluid first. That comment did not sit right with Vennad. It sounded very callous, like Shrian was criticizing Anni's appearance after her death, but still, even if he was getting a bad feeling from that comment, he agreed that he would wait. Yeah.

And I could see that. It's like this is her husband now. And I want to respect his wishes as well. But like that's so weird that Shrian would even persuade him against it. It's like that's his daughter. Seeing like, yeah, criticizing her appearance maybe. Yeah. Benad spent November 15th at the hotel where Shrian was already planning an elaborate funeral.

He had a spreadsheet on his laptop with songs and the guest list. And then the next day, November 16th, Vinad insisted. on seeing his daughter, but Shrian refused to come along, saying that he needed to spend time alone. When Banad returned, he noticed Shrian had gotten a haircut and was wearing a brand new suit. On the 17th, Shrian, Vanad, and Prakash flew back to England with Ani's body for the weekend funeral. Meanwhile, police were beginning to make a big move. They found Kolee at a friend's house a few hundred yards from the crime scene. He was sleeping off a hangover with another man in two women. And after waking up, police flipped his mattress, and that's when they found that there was a

cell phone, that it looked like he had hidden under the mattress. And so they look at this phone and they're like, is this your phone? And he goes, no. This phone belongs to the taxi driver, Tongo is what he said. The one he had reported stolen during the carjacking. Once Colile was in custody, he didn't deny anything. Singing like a canary, he confessed really quickly on video without even seeking a plea deal. His story is. is our fifth clue. The police kept it a secret at the time, and the public didn't find out what Kolele said until two years later in 2012, but the day he was arrested in 2010, he admitted he had an accomplice. A man named Mizzi Wamadota, Kwaabe. After the two men hijacked Hongo's car,

Colile said Shrian offered them money and begged for his life. Quabay then told the couple that they had dropped them off separately one at a time, but that they would both be released alive. Shrian begged them not to separate him from Ani, and that's when Quabé shouted at Shrian and forced him out of that car's back window. Then they drove off with Ani in the back seat. In his own words, Kalile said, quote, The lady was hanging onto her bag, crying as she was scared. I heard a shot. I asked Quabay why he'd done it. So Kalile was claiming that Quabay broke that promise. He was the one that pulled the trigger and killed Ani. Plus, to them, it really did seem like robbery was the motive. And I did watch an interview with Quabé's grandma, and she said he was getting really desperate

for money at this point because he wanted to actually get a circumcision. And this is a very cultural practice that at 18, they do some sort of, she called it like a tribal circumcision. And with him already being 25, about to be 26 at that time, it was like now or never. and he felt like he was so behind and was just desperate for money. Interesting. I hadn't heard that. Yeah.

Shortly after Colile's arrest, police found Ani's bracelet and Armani Ristwatch hidden in the place that he was staying. It looked like this was going to be an open and shut case as soon as they caught his accomplice. And that really didn't take very long. On November 17th, prosecutors filed kidnapping and murder charges against Colile. And the very next day, November 18th, police arrested their second. second suspect. 26-year-old Missy Wamodota, Quabbe. Turns out he was Kalile's neighbor.

Quabay was unemployed, but he made money selling drugs, also DJing on the side. And like Kalile, he very quickly confessed. But he pointed the finger in the opposite direction saying Kalile was the one who pulled the trigger. And he said that he could prove it. All they had to do was taken back to the crime scene. And when they heard that, the detectives agreed to do it.

What Quabé showed them led to one of the case's most shocking botches. On November 18, 2010, detectives brought Quabé back to the crime scene. To back up his story, he first showed them the storm drain where he said he had actually dropped the shell casing from the bullet that killed Ani. Detectives were able to recover it and later confirmed that it matched the gun. The second thing Quabé showed them is our sixth clue, a yellow dishwashing glove, near where the minivan was abandoned. He explained that he had worn the dishwashing gloves during the crime and then had tossed them.

This was crucial. Police sent the glove for gunshot residue testing. If residue was present, it would strongly suggest that Quabé was wearing the gloves when he was the one that then fired the gun. If not, Colile might have been the shooter. However, when the residue test results came back from the lab, they were never forwarded to the investigative team. Did they say why? Detectives never followed up.

I didn't see anything. Our researcher here didn't find anything about why. And essentially they just forgot about it and moved on. It's a weird botch because it's like an administrative mistake possibly or I don't know. Or just negligence to not follow it up. To just not follow up. I mean, like I said, I can't stress enough how much crime this area. Faced and we talked about it too.

Like they really thought this was an open and shut case. Yeah. So I could see them being like, well, we can preserve our resources for other crimes that maybe need a little bit more investigating because this one's so easy. We have two guys and they're both confessing like we're done. But yeah, still crazy to hear that they just didn't like forward a huge part of their findings to their proper people. And if they would have checked, they would have found that the glove tested positive for gunshot residue.

meaning Quabé was almost certainly the one who fired the gun. Right. But because they never followed up, Colile and Quabbe both just kept pointing fingers at each other. And it's like, okay, it's like Spider-Man meme who's pointing at who. Right. All you had to do is go follow up with the lab. You had the results right there. I know, but it's one of those things too where like both guys are confessing they both were involved. Obviously, legally it matters who pulled the trigger, but they kind of are both terrible. They're like we're going to get them both. Yeah, we'll just get them both.

It doesn't really matter. Yeah, okay, I guess one of you, like, was the one that actually pulled the trigger, but both of you are, like, obviously culpable in this. Yes. So back in England, there was also a lot of finger pointing going on. So on November 19th, that's six days after the hijacking, Shrian hosted a 500-person pizza party to celebrate Annie's life before the funeral took place. Her father, Vinod, was deeply offended because this actually violated Gujarati morning customs,

which prohibit parties during the morning period. He asked Shrian to cancel it, but Shrian refused, saying that Ani loved pizza and would have wanted this. Vinod found all of this behavior to be incredibly strange, and it turns out that he wasn't the only one. Ani's older sister, Ami, and her younger cousin Sniha, were both in conflict with Shrian that week. In the lead up to the funeral,

Sneha heard Shrian talking about getting massage and having some suits tailored, He did not really come across as very grief-stricken when she was hearing this. And the same day as the pizza party, Shrian defied another tradition. He insisted on being the one to dress Ani's body for her funeral. In Hindu faith, only women dress women's bodies. The Hindochas planned for Ami and Sneha to perform this ritual. But Shrian showed up at the funeral parlor on the morning of November 19th, and he forced his way in. This next part is honestly so distrish.

And hearing Annie's sister, Ami, talk about this, she is so traumatized from this experience. She's like, I will never get this and the sound out of my head. So this is according to Ami. Shrian handled Ani's body very roughly. He at one point was trying to force bangles onto her swollen wrists. Yeah. And Ami says like because the rigor mortis had set in so much, like there's no malleability to get the small bangles on. Yeah.

And Ami cried out at one point. stop it you're hurting her, which is just devastating to hear that. And Shrian then dropped Ani's arm with like this loud that. He just completely dropped it as if like whatever. After that, Shrian refused to let the Hindochas have a private viewing of Ani's body before her cremation. As her husband and legal next of kin, he had authority to control all of the funeral arrangements no matter what.

But Shrian, you know, he later denied all of this. Vinaud also said Shrian tried to stop them from putting roses in Ani's coffin saying that it would make her final resting place look like a dust bin. I don't understand that. The whole, yeah, the family themselves, I've watched clips of them talking about this experience. And the whole funeral process for them was just horrific from Shrian blocking any time to spend with Ani and say goodbye. Like, the sister, Ami, was basically like, we only got 30 minutes of a private prayer ceremony. And after 10 minutes, he busted in, started screaming about how it was insulting.

to him that they were doing it. Yeah. And her parents ended up only getting two minutes with her to say goodbye. Horrible. Like two minutes. Devastating. Their world was ripped out from them. And like, Ani was their daughter a part of their lives for how many years.

And he was a husband for two weeks and I'd known her for months. Right. Right. Come on. It's really, really sad. Vinod did, though, keep supporting Shrian publicly. But he no longer saw him as a son. In fact, he was beginning.

to see him as maybe a suspect. It had crossed his mind that maybe Shrian had been in league with the hijackers. And Anni's uncle also shared those suspicions. He felt like Shrian hadn't fought hard enough when the hijackers forced him out of the car. Any innocent husband, he believed, would have defended his wife with his life. But despite all this, the funeral did have to go on. And at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 20th, a week after the murder, the ceremony began in a London concert hall. there were 1,500 guests five times more than attended their wedding.

And while the guests were inside watching photos on a giant screen, news broke of a third arrest in this case. Tongo, the taxi driver. So a week earlier, Tongo had been seen as another victim of the hijacking, but now he was under arrest, suspected of orchestrating the whole thing. Tango had hired a lawyer two days before his arrest, which he said was out of fear of police violence. violence. We have a little note here that that actually was seen as a reasonable fear at the time. The National Police Commissioner at the time was giving interviews about how angry he was that this case was making South Africa look dangerous right after, you know, they just had the World Cup. And that had put South Africa in a really positive light. And then all of a sudden this case is in the spotlight again.

It's making them look dangerous. So he thought that the cops would maybe have it out for him. Both Khalilay and Kwaib's lawyers were now claiming their quick confessions actually came from police torture. This was never proven. It was never formally investigated. But the lawyers made specific on the record claims that their clients were beaten. And also, you know, at the time of the arrest, nearly 300 South Africans had died in police custody over the previous two years. And the previous police commissioner had been removed for taking massive bribes from a drug kingpin. So obviously, there's just like a lot of corruption happening in the area as well. There's a lot of crime, a lot of corruption. It's just like not a great time. Yeah, so botch for police brutality. Yeah, police brutality will always get a botched. So Tango did have every reason to worry about what might happen to him in custody. And when he heard that a warrant was coming, he actually arranged to turn himself in on November 20th, the day of the funeral. And he immediately began negotiating a plea deal.

Meanwhile, back in England, the press was starting to speculate about Shrian, you know, on top of Anni's family. The South African police service made a shocking revelation to, to local media, which British reporters picked up on. They said that the murder was now being considered a planned hit. News reports claimed the Dewanis nursing home company was in debt, and that, you know, implied a financial motive. The company did deny it, and Ani didn't even have a life insurance policy that Shrian could have benefited from, but the Duanis still decided that they needed some help. On November 22nd, nine days after the hijacking, they hired controversial celebrity publicist Max Clifford.

And if that name sounds familiar to you guys, it's because he is actually now a convicted serial sex offender, but at the time he was mostly known for handling OJ Simpson's image rehab strategy after the murder trial. Once Max came on board, the Diwanis asked the Hindochas to clear any public statements through him before they spoke to reporters. But Ani's family refused.

They were like, we're not going to talk to this guy before we, what are you talking about? We don't have to clear anything with this guy. And they demanded a face-to-face meeting with Shrian instead. Yeah, the family at this point felt that they were getting every bit of news from the media. Yes. So they're like, why would we stop talking to them when that's how we're getting anything? Yeah. Who's this random sex pervert you hired who's like now we're not going through him? So the families did actually agree to come together and have a meeting eventually. And Ani's cousin Sneha came to that meeting with a tape recorder, hid them. in her jacket. The recording didn't become public until four years later, but it is our seventh clue. Sneha expected Shrian and his family to spin the narrative with Max Clifford's help, and she wanted evidence

of how he behaved behind closed doors. This time, Shrian retold the hijacking story with new details. He described offering the hijackers money and a ring that Ani was wearing, but it didn't work. Shrian said the hijackers took it and then pushed him out of the back window anyway. quote, like a roly-poly onto the road. Ani's mother asked how Shrian didn't get hurt after being thrown from a moving vehicle. He said that he kind of did. He had minor bruises,

but the car was going slowly enough and the road was soft sand. Shrian also revealed that police never collected his fingerprints or DNA before he left South Africa. The most shocking part of the recording, though, had nothing to do with the crime itself. Trian's brother, Prean, laid out what he believed was a political conspiracy against Trian. Praian said that he had been calling the police 15 to 20 times a day and was taking notes on every call.

He claimed that detectives initially told him the first two suspects described the murder as a botched robbery that Ani was accidentally shot, and the hijackers then abandoned the van and fled because they were scared. Then Pran claimed the South African government pressured the police to construct a narrative that wouldn't make the country look dangerous to tourists. After that, Quabé and Tonga completely changed their stories in exchange for plea deals, which was how Shrian became implicated. So essentially, families, like, Shrian's getting the fingers pointed at him to get the country off the hook. Right. Yeah. This was a murder for hire, not a carjacking.

It's not dangerous here. Like, it was this guy and an isolated country. case that was very targeted. He came here to hire these guys. They didn't randomly attack him. Yeah. Now, the South African police denied changing this theory because of any political pressure. They said that they just got new information and were acting on it. But court proceedings did confirm that Quabé changed his story after his arrest and that key details in Quabez and Colile's confessions did contradict each other. But Colile did stick. to the botched robbery story throughout.

On the recording, nobody in the room disagrees with Preyun's conspiracy theory, but the Hindochas did still refuse to work with the Dewanis publicist. Shrian did apologize for the funeral conflict, saying he was just feeling left out. And at the end, Vinod comforted Shrian, saying, quote, from what we could see, and still I can see in your eyes, is just love for Ani. You could do anything for her, end quote. So it did seem like the meeting ended on a better note than it started. And even so, the two families drifted further apart over the next two weeks as prosecutors prepared for the first hearing in Ani's case. The Hindotchas leaned back

toward suspecting Shrian. The Dawani's kept insisting that he was being framed. Binaud returned to Cape Town for the hearing, but Shrian stayed in England. And on December 7, 2010, this is just over three weeks after the murder, Tongo appeared in court and revealed that he had actually made a deal, a reduced 18-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea to organizing the murder and cooperation with prosecution in the hijackers' trials. But the real bombshell came from the prosecutor who said the supposed hijacking was actually, quote, part of a plan of subterfuge, which Shri and Dewani, the husband of the deceased, and the accused had designed to conceal the true facts. The prosecutor claimed Shrian had offered Tango 15,000 Rand, which is like $2,100

US dollars at the time, to hire a hitman to kill Ani. After that, there were audible gasps in the gallery. It was the first official confirmation that Shrian was a suspect after all. Another one of this week's partners is solace. Navigating the health care system can be impossible. Impossible to do it on your own. What if your claims deny? what if you're not feeling heard by your care team? What if you're dealing with caregiver burnout? That is where solace comes in. Salas matches you with a dedicated advocate,

experts who take on the hardest parts of your health care. They find doctors, get insurance to cover your care, keep your doctors on the same page, and work with you one-on-one for as long as it takes to get the care you need. There's studies that show that 98% of patients feel more in control of their care after working with an advocate. And this is something that I'm seeing play out in real time, Now I have, you know, my grandmother has Alzheimer's. It's so hard to watch her go through the

medical system without an advocate because she forgets everything her doctors tell her. Like, it's so amazing when you can have someone who's actually paying attention with you and helping you throughout this entire process. It's incredible. And some of Solace advocates are registered nurses or other health care professionals with an average of 16 years of experience. Go to solacehealth.com to see if you qualify. It takes about two minutes and it's covered by insurance. That's SalasHealth.com must be 18 or older. Advocates do not provide medical or legal advice. On December 7th, 2010, South African police confirmed 30-year-old Shrian Duani was a suspect in the murder of his new wife, Annie Hindocha. The next day, December 8th, South African authorities began trying to extradite him from England.

And this forced the London Metropolitan Police to issue a warrant for Shrian's arrest. He turned himself in that very same day, but he said he would fight the extradition in court. Since people generally can't be extradited while appealing, he did stay in the UK for the time being. A magistrate released him on bail of 250,000 British pounds. That's around $395,000 U.S. dollars at the time. And both countries started gearing up for a long legal fight. But it still wasn't clear what evidence South Africa had against Shrian beyond Tongos' deal-driven testimony. Yeah, I mean, prosecutors were keeping their legal strategy pretty close to the check.

but they were relying heavily on our eighth clue, which is money-changing hands. On November 16th, three days after the hijacking, Tango called the police to complain about journalists harassing him. This was before he turned himself in. But according to court documents, the officer he reached happened to be with Shrian at the time and put Shrian on the phone with Tongo. During that call, Shrian asked how he could contact Tango to make arrangements to pay him, It's not clear from the court documents if he said this in front of the officer, but I mean, he had hired Tango as a driver and semi-tour guide. So if the officer did hear it, maybe he thought it was about those services. In one source I saw, Tonga was apparently asked by Shrian to hire a helicopter, which I don't know, to me seems kind of odd.

Like you'd ask a taxi driver to hire a helicopter versus the concierge at your luxury hotel. Yeah, yeah, I guess he probably had like other people who could have hired, he could have gotten the helicopter from. Well, and a lot of people thought it was so odd he would even hire Tango in the first place because the hotel had luxury drivers. Yeah. Like this is a really bougie hotel. We'll get into like just how weird it was that he hired this guy in the first place. I mean, we talked about it too. Like they had planned this incredibly luxury honeymoon.

Yeah. And okay, the line is a little short, but like everyone at the time knew how dangerous and how rich. and how risky it was to just be in the area in general. He must have done his due diligence. And then to just hire an off-the-books driver was, like, a choice. I know. Regardless, Tongo called Shriyan back later to arrange a meeting. The hotel's CCTV cameras actually captured them walking into the hotel's communications room together, where Shrian handed Tongo an envelope in a plastic bag.

Shrian left before Tango could count it. He did count it, though, in the rest of. out of CCTV view, but cameras caught Tonga looking frustrated when he came out. The envelope contained 1,000 South African RAND, much less than the 15,000 RAND that prosecutors claimed was offered for the hit. It was roughly what the taxi ride to dinner and back would have cost, though, which, I'm sorry, you're a taxi driver and you get us kidnapped and my wife killed. I'm not paying you... Yeah, yeah. The fact that this is even...

happening is like, huh? Yeah, that is like the concept of doing that is very strange. Like, I get, oh man, yeah, I know. I guess it's in theory at the time, maybe you're thinking it's not his fault so you're still paying him for his services, but like, what the hell? What's really strange is Tongo didn't mention receiving any money from Shrian in his initial sworn affidavit following the plea agreement. But on December 22nd, over a month after the murder, he made. a new sworn statement that did include the envelope exchange. And he basically said that he had left it out originally because he feared it would expose him to more serious charges even with the plea deal.

It wasn't completely damning, though, because Shrian could have just been paying Tango for the taxi services. But under the UK South Africa Extradition Treaty, it was enough to force him to return to the country. But prosecutors still had to defeat Shrian's appeal. And then in January of 2011, Shrian's lawyer said that he was too unwelled to appear in court due to an acute stress disorder and depressive adjustment disorder. The magistrate granted a delay so that he could receive treatment. A month later, that's February 20th of 2011, Shrian was rushed to the hospital after an overdose of anxiety medication and sleeping pills.

His psychiatrist thought that it was for sleep rather than a suicide attempt, but it did still quantify as a medical emergency. He was hospitalized for three days, and once again, extradition was delayed. Two months later, in April, things only got worse. Shrian was readmitted for psychiatric treatment. He became aggressive. He threatened to hit a staffer and was confined to a secure psychiatric facility. The Hindoches thought that he was faking it to avoid going to South Africa. I mean, that's something that comes up a lot in this case is like, was he just messing around so he didn't have to go back?

And that's exactly what her family thought was going on. And so her family gathered 11,000 signatures on a petition to extradite him. Meanwhile, England's home secretary, which is their equivalent of a secretary of Homeland Security, reviewed the petition and they ordered an extradition. But Shrian still had the right to an appeal, so the process just dragged on. Finally, in December of 2011, that's more than a year after the murder, An appeals court ruled that he could remain in the U.K. until his mental health improved enough to stand trial.

However, they said, he would be extradited the moment it did, which that's not really a threat. That's like, once you're emotionally well, like, we're sending you away. He's going to be emotionally unwell forever. Yes. I don't even know why they would have said that. Yeah. So while Shrian continued his treatment in England, the cases in South Africa moved forward. In August of 2012, Quabé made a plea deal after initially pleading not guilty.

and claiming his confession was coerced. He pled guilty to murder, kidnapping, robbery, and illegal possession of a firearm in exchange for 25 years. He also now supported Tango's version of events, that Shrian had hired Tango, who brought the hitmen in, and that Quabé knew all along that the plan was to release Shrian safely and kill Ani in exchange for a share of 15,000 Rand. Kolee never changed his story, though, or made a deal.

He was diagnosed with an aggressive, terminal brain tumor shortly after his arrest and that also delayed his trial. Yeah, he had multiple brain surgeries before he even took to the stand. Wow. Which, I don't know, like I did a lot of OT with people that had brain cancer and had gone through surgeries. Like, they really struggled with memory and recall and it obviously depends on where your tumor is and the surgery and what they resect, but it is crazy that they still even had him testify given you don't know how those surgeries could have affected him. No, absolutely, absolutely.

In November of 2012, he was finally well enough to face the court. You know, he did still have to. But he maintained his original story that Quabé shot Ani during a botched robbery, and he knew nothing about any plot to kill her. But the court just didn't agree with that. On November 19, 2012, six days after the two-year anniversary of the murder, Colile was convicted of firing the shot that killed Ani. He was sentenced to life in prison,

even though his life expectancy because of the brain tumor was less than, than five years. And by the way, the gunshot residue results from Quabay's glove were never mentioned in Kolele's trial because the police still hadn't looked at them. But what about his lawyer? Like, that is crazy that that was not brought up. I know. I know. And I used to spend the rest of his life in jail. Yeah, with a brain tumor. Like being sick. It's just like. Not getting like good health care. And it's like he's telling the story and the two other ones that are now agreeing with each other have switched their story continuously. Yeah. Like, which is it? The evidence says this, but you're not even looking at the evidence. I know. It's wild because, I mean, we've researched

this case and even now still trying to say it out loud, it feels like whiplash. Like, there's just so much back and forth. And so, like, even for investigators, just the amount of back and forth and people changing their story and, like, who was saying what and who's telling the truth. In April of 2014, that's three and a half years now after the murder, Shrian's health. had improved and also his appeals were exhausted, so he was extradited to South Africa to stand trial. And it began on October 6, 2014. By this point, Khalilay was in the end stages of his cancer, though prosecutors still hoped that he would testify. On day one, Shrian's defense attorney submitted a plea statement, which in South Africa is standard

practice with any plea, including not guilty, just to show the judge what facts both sides agree on so they don't have to be hashed out in court. That statement is how the world learned about the prosecution's alleged motive. Our ninth clue, Shrian's sexuality and infidelity. Shrian's police statement acknowledged that he had sexual experiences with both men and women, including male sex workers. The prosecution planned to argue that Shrian actually killed Anni to escape a marriage that would expose his sexuality.

In their theory, they said that Shrian was living a double life, terrified that a divorce without him, terrified enough that he would kill over it. The defense's strategy was to get ahead of it. In South Africa, judges can actually reject evidence that simply repeats facts that the defendant has already admitted. So the more that Shrian confessed to affairs and sex up front, the less damaging testimony the prosecution could introduce. Which that's a really wild way to do trials. Like if you just confess to it, they can't bring it up.

So if you're like, I mean, just think of all the crimes that are committed where, yeah, I abused children in my past. And now I've confessed to it so it can't come up during trial when I'm being like convicted of or, you know, accused of something else. We need a South African specific lawyer to chime in on this. Yeah, because I'm just curious how that works out in other trials. Yeah, I mean, it was a strategy for them though. And that essentially meant offering up extremely personal confessions, like admitting to, sleeping with a male sex worker while planning the wedding. Oh my gosh.

That sex worker was a 43-year-old German man living in the UK. He was then called to testify. He had seen Shrian three times for BDSM sex communicating through the site, Gaydar. On one occasion, Shrian slept over, which was unusual for his clients. He described how Shrian liked to be treated during sex, including being called racial slurs. The sex worker also mentioned texting Shrian on December 3rd, 2010, just two and a half weeks after Ani's murder. He noticed that Shrian had deleted his Gaydar profile when he asked.

Shrian said he was okay, just very busy. The prosecution hoped that the sex worker would testify and show that Shrian had been unhappy about the engagement, but feared his family would disown him if he broke it off. I mean, this would have been the second engagement he called off then. Yeah. Which, again, in this culture, doesn't look very good, but the defense's strategy worked. The judge cut off the sex workers' testimony before prosecutors got to those conversations.

Shrian's police statement also acknowledged that he was a member of multiple gay hookup sites seeking BDSM sex under the username Asian sub guy. His computer logged into two gay hookup sites the night that Anni died. And again, two days after the murder. Oh, it reminds me of, remember Scott Peter? how after Lacey went missing, he upgraded his cable service to have like 10 hardcore porn channels. Yeah. What is wrong? Oh my gosh. It's just like so upsetting.

And again, this strategy was working and essentially his lawyers were arguing that his infidelity was sleazy, but not extraordinary. Plenty of straight men have, quote, one last fling before marriage. Of course, all of this. came as a complete shock to the Hindochas, who never suspected that Shrian was bisexual. I actually watched an interview with her dad. And Ani had gone to her dad and said, he's waiting until marriage to have sex. Yeah, that was a big part of it. He's saving himself. And her dad at the time was like, Ani, you know, that's so admirable. What a good Hindu boy. Like, they were raving about it. And he's like having sex with sex workers the whole time. time and on these sites.

On these sites. And you have people testifying all of these, like, he likes to be called this. Like, it's very intimate detail that, like, it doesn't seem like they're lying. Yeah, of course. So. I mean, and they have the digital records, right? They can just look at his computer and be like, wow. Two days after your wife died, you were on these sites.

Two days. Ugh. The Hindochas were so angry about this that they actually intended to sue him for their share of wedding costs, arguably. mean that the entire marriage was a fraud. Wow. And it gets worse. Yeah. It gets so much worse. So as the trial got underway, prosecutors argued that Ani was already regretting the marriage and was actually already planning to divorce Shrian when they returned to the UK. They introduced text messages showing Ani complaining about Shrian repeatedly to her sister and cousin. At one point

texting, quote, hate him. Another message sent before the wedding read, quote, I don't want to marry him. I'm going to be unhappy for the rest of my life. life. And there's also more that came out. Like Sneha had this story that at one point he had said he was going to turn Ani from an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. What ugly duckling? Look at her. And then he's also saying that she's ugly during the funeral. And so it's just like horrible, horrible things to say about her. And then there's also a story too that Ani did confront him about the not having sex before marriage thing. And he claimed that it was actually because he was infertile and he was receiving hormone treatments, which I mean,

I mean, there was none of that ever came up during the trial. Like, that was a lie. Yeah. And I will say, family members did say that they did not have sex on this honeymoon either. Yeah. So it's like, okay, now we're married. We're still not having sex. And so that was a big part of like why she was going to pursue divorce once she got

home. But was texting people like, divorce is so scary and we'll just deal with it when we get back. And you just got married and that's embarrassing to get divorced like immediately afterwards. You know, because people make judgments. Yeah. I get the stress of it. Prosecutor said Shrian was afraid Ani was going to expose his attraction to men and humiliate him with this quick divorce she was planning

and that that would damage his family's reputation. According to their theory, Shriyan approached Tango after that first airport ride and asked him to arrange a hit. When Tango testified, he said he was originally told that the target was Shrian's business partner, not wife, but business partner, to avoid any questions about. why he wanted his wife killed. He claimed Shrian offered 15,000 RAND for the job, and then after speaking to Shrian, Tango went to a guy he knew named Monday Mimbalambo. Monday agreed to help, and he contacted Quabé, who recruited Kalee, and

Tango said he briefed Shrian on the plan. And it was this. A fake carjacking was going to happen where Shrian would be safely released. Then Ani would be taken elsewhere, and she would be killed. Tango testified the hit was originally supposed to have. happened earlier that day before dinner when he drove them to Guguletu for the first attempt, but the hitmen weren't in position yet. So that's when he took them to dinner, contacted the hitman, and arranged a second attempt in Guguletu later. He testified that both Kalele and Kwaibu had guns when they got into the car, so he did not know who actually shot Ani. The prosecution also called Mondei to the stand, granting him immunity in exchange for

his testimony. But his account conflicted a lot with what Tango had to say. Tango said that he didn't discuss any payment with Monde, but Monde said they agreed that he would get $5,000 Rand for his role. Tango said he told Monde the victim was Srian's business partner, but Monde said they never discussed the victim's identity. It's not even like there's big parts of the story that are changing. Like there's all these little details that keep changing. Like I didn't talk about money. We did talk about money. I said it was business partner. He didn't say who it was. Like, there's just so many inconsistencies with everyone's story. No, nothing is lining up. Now, Tonga was the prosecution's star witness, but almost as soon as the trial started, the prosecution had a bunch of losses and some bad luck.

First, the judge threw out all of the sex workers' testimony. Then on October 18th, Coelie died in a prison hospital before he could even testify. By then, Shrian's team had obtained the gunshot residue results from Quabé's glove and confronted the lead detective in court. His only excuse for never reviewing the results was that he forgot. I mean, it's already on the botch board. I feel like two of the three tallies are for this, like, very specific part of the case. But like, oh my gosh. And you're going to get there in front of everyone, hand a god, and say, I forgot.

I forgot. The lead detective also admitted that his team had stopped keeping a case diary or daily notes after March 2011 because they believed their notes were being leaked to the media. As a result, he couldn't confirm anything from the investigation after that date. Which that also, I am curious because I know we've actually heard from a couple police officers who listen to this show. And I am curious, like, because that's so strange to me. Oh, we thought they were being released to the media so we stopped keeping notes.

I wonder, like, is there protocol if you think that your notes are being, like, do you have to do an internal investigation? as to who's leaking the notes because my cousin's a cop and 90% of his job is keeping notes on everything that happens. Like the second he goes to a call, he has to go back in the car and just take extensive notes on everything that went down. Like who approached, who said what? Like, it just doesn't make any sense to me that they stopped taking notes. Don't they like have to take notes? Is it that the job? At least here that you have to take really extensive notes because you have to know exactly who did like the whole chain of command for everything

and all the evidence and everything. I imagine they stopped. because it sounds like they just got lazy with the case instead of investigating who leaked it. I mean, if the media leak was real, then did you pursue the leak? I know. Why not mention that then? It's giving botch.

I'll give that one a mark. Yeah. Because I... Yeah. It's bad. Then we have our 10th and final clue, which is an audio recording and CCTV footage of conversations between Monday and Tongo,

both by phone and in person. Monday, who had immunity at this time, had portrayed himself as this small player, just the guy who connected the hitman with the client. Nothing big. But Monday was recorded calling Quabé and giving orders, including, quote, it must happen today.

This essentially contradicted both Monday and Tongos' testimony that Monday was not involved beyond being the link man. Monday gave Tongo instructions on how to pay the hitmen, when to take his own cut, and what would happen to his minivan, saying it would be washed of evidence, which again, contradicted Tongo's testimony that he expected the van to be abandoned on the road. Like, nothing anyone is saying is true at this point. Yeah, I know. And in all of these recordings, there was no clear mention of Shrian paying them for a hit. This is where I start going back and forth. I mean, I'm curious with everything we've covered, everyone who's listening,

just comment where you're at right now. Right now. Because just timestamp it. Just timestamp it and be like, this is what I think. Because I just feel like the more you listen, the more your opinion is going to change. Overall, the recordings do end up fitting the narrative of a robbery masterminded by Monday, and it resonated more than the prosecution's theory of a planned hit. The closest thing to implicating Shrian was one one call where Monday said, quote, there's five of us, remember? Tongo interpreted that as Monday, Colile, Quabbe, Shrian, and himself. But the judge didn't really buy that. Riesas knows a thing or two about great combinations.

Chocolate and peanut butter, obviously. But there's more than one way to Rises. From indulgent Riesces Big Cups with caramel to crunchy Ries' pieces and Riesce's miniatures, there's a delicious Rieces for every mood. It's the same combo you love, just with more ways to enjoy it. So, whether you're snacking, sharing, or just treating yourself, nothing else is Reese's. And this led to this central question for the judge. Why should she trust any of the prosecution's witnesses?

The star witness had changed his story repeatedly and couldn't explain key details, like why he was never actually paid the $15,000 he claimed was offered. Shrian did admit to offering Tango $15,000 Rand on their first night, but said that it was for arranging a surprise helicopter ride for Ani, not a hit. Overall, Tango's credibility was low, and the only person backing him up was Monde, who had admitted to perjuring himself in a prior trial. The defense's story was more plausible. The crime was a robbery, masterminded by Mondei, with Tango selling out his wealthy passengers for a quick score. Which to some people online is very believable, given the fact that Tango did drive Shrian to go and

exchange the U.S. cash for Rand. Yeah. So people are like, he was there. He drove him to the exchange place. He knew he had a bunch of money. Yeah. He saw what they were wearing. He saw where they were coming from the hotel that they were at. I mean, she was like decked out in diamonds that night. She did, unfortunately, probably look like an easy target because she had everything on her. Mm-hmm. You see that here, because the jewelry that the carjackers got away with was worth more than six times the supposed 15,000 RAND hit fee. And if they had found Ani's diamond engagement ring hidden between the seats, they could have netted some 25 times that. Yeah. And as for why they took Ani but let Shrian live, the defense argued that they planned to hold her for ransom,

possibly sexually assault her. On November 17th, 2014, shortly after the fourth anniversary of the murder, the defense moved for a dismissal saying that there was insufficient evidence to proceed. And three weeks later, on December 8th, the judge agreed with that. And Shrian was exonerated of all charges. Almost seven years went by with few updates in the case. And then, in 2021, Monday appeared in a documentary crying and apologizing for his role in all of this. But he stuck to the story that Shrian was behind it. The Hindojas accused him of crocodile tears and challenged him to sit down with the family face-to-face and tell them the entire truth.

and as far as we know, he still hasn't taken them up on it. The Hindochas still to this day have no real closure. Tonga was paroled in 2022 over the Hindoja's objections after serving half of his 18-year sentence. Kalile died from his condition behind bars before he could even make it into testify in the fall of 2014. Quabé remains in prison to this day. He asked for an earlier parole date in exchange for testifying against Shrian,

but the court refused. He's going to be eligible for, parole next year in 2027 after serving two-thirds of his time. Shrian remains free and has stayed mostly out of the public eye. And as of 2018, he was reportedly in a serious relationship with a man. Which is interesting because again, a lot of people then go back to, did you kill your wife so you could not have to go through the messiness of a divorce and that public shame to be with who you really wanted to be with. Well, which is wild, though, because he did have to go through all of the public shame. He did, even more so. He did confess everything in court. Like, it really seemed like he wasn't

keeping it that close to the vest once it came down to it. Like, he did confess it before they went to trial. So, and now, was that just a strategy? No, I know. That's what I really can't wrap my head around. I know. I'm bamboozled in the brain by this one. Everything is still floating around in my head and doesn't make any sense. This was one that I did go online and look at the Reddit threads. just to see what people were saying on this. What do casual viewers who watch this case think? And a lot of people do think that he was gay. And he kept faking illness so he didn't have to go back to South Africa.

And enough time would pass that they maybe forget about the crime. And then, you know, finally, when he did go back, there just wasn't enough to actually convict him of anything. Well, and the strategy of getting up front and just putting all your dirty laundry out so it can't be used against you is very unique. If the trial with what they had would have played out elsewhere, would it have been the same result? However, I'm very flabbergasted by all of these people involved in this robbery slash hit for hire. Why did they all change their stories so many times?

I mean, even just the littlest details, which just really, the chances of ever finding out the truth are just basically zero at this point. And again, we have the botches, not testing the glove. I mean, for me, I can't believe anything those people said because it's so contradictory every single time. I know. And then the CCTV footage comes out and you have these recordings of what they're saying. But it's like, oh my God. I know. And it doesn't support the Shrian story for the most part.

No. If nothing they ever said beforehand supports the Shrian story, which could have been very strategic on their end to not implicate him whatever. You know, at the end of the day, you do have this. man who lost his wife and who was publicly outed against his will. You know, like, you know, there is a chance that Shrian is a victim in all of this. There's also a chance that Shrian was the perpetrator of all this. And so that's why I'm really just throwing it to you guys who are watching this. Truly, I don't know where I fall right now. I would love to see your comments of where you guys are at and I can like dissect it with you in the comments because I'm very confused right now,

knowing all the facts that we know. I guess for me, the thing that implicates Shri and the most in all of this was when he said that it was Ani's idea to go into the slums at night, which were notorious for being incredibly dangerous and she's decked out in all of her fancy clothes and jewelry. That to me, I don't buy, that she was the one, you know, she didn't even want to go to South Africa in the first place. And now she wants to drive her on the slums in the pitch black. At night?

No, that is the one sticking point for me. And her family even talks about it where they're like, we saw the CCTV footage of her in her outfit, this beautiful dress, these high heels. Why would she want to go and see this neighborhood in the middle of the night? There's no lights. Yeah, right.

There's what's there to see. Yeah. And so they're like, that's not ony. She wouldn't have done that. Yes, and Trian insisted that it was. Yeah. So that is a good point to bring up. And every episode we like to end on a little bit of activism.

And so this week, we want to talk. about how South Africa is facing a severe crisis of gender-based violence and femicide, with rates of violence against women and children reported to be approximately five times higher than the global average. In response, the government officially classified gender-based violence as a national disaster. For immediate assistance or to report abuse, the following official toll-free resources are available in South Africa. GBV Emergency Command Center, you can call 080-428424.424. features a please call me facility by dialing star star 1-20 star-star 7-867 pound.

And persons with disabilities can text help to 31531. And there's also the South African police services. You can call the crime stop number at 0 860-1-1-1-1. This week we're highlighting the case of Mayushi Bagat. Mayushi Bagot was last seen in the evening hours of April 29, 2019, leaving her apartment in Jersey City, New Jersey. She was last seen wearing colorful pajama pants and a black t-shirt. Bagat was reported missing by her family on May 1st, 2019. She was attending the New York Institute of Technology in New York City and was in the United States on an F-1 student visa.

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the location or recovery of Mayyushy Bogat. and the identification, arrest, and conviction of the person or persons responsible. Bagat speaks English, Hindi, and Urdu. She has friends in the South Plainfield, New Jersey area, and she's described as having black hair, brown eyes, 510, and 150 to 160 pounds at the time of her disappearance. She has a medium build and was born in India on July 12, 1994. If you have any information concerning Mayushi, please contact your local FBI office or the nearest American embassy or consulate.

And that is all we have for this episode of Clues. Now we turn it over to you guys. Your thoughts, your feedback, theories, anything you bumped on, and anything that sounded strange that you just can't wrap your head around. I know there's a lot for us in this episode. You can comment wherever you listen. So much. I'm still sitting here. I'm like, wait.

Also, he hired Tongo to find him a helicopter. Yeah. I know. I'm lost, you guys. So please chime in in the comments. At Crime House, we really value your support. so share all your thoughts on social media and remember to rate review, follow and subscribe to help others discover our show. And don't forget, for early access, add free access,

subscribe to Crimehouse Plus at crimehouseplus.com, or if you listen on Apple Podcasts, tap try free at the top of the clues page. Thanks, guys. Bye. Every week, we dive into the pieces, both hidden and obvious, behind some of the biggest true crime cases. Subscribe to Clues Pod with Morgan Absher and Kail. and more on YouTube. And remember, every clue counts.