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This is an archive article published on December 7, 2010

NRI accused of plotting wife’s murder during honeymoon

British-Indian millionaire Dewani has been accused of hiring assassins to bump off his wife.

British-Indian millionaire Shrien Dewani has been accused of hiring assassins to bump off his wife Anni during their honeymoon in South Africa,in the high profile case which has hogged media attention for weeks.

With the police groping in the dark for weeks to unravel the killing of the Indo-Swedish woman Anni,28,the driver of the newly-wed couple hired to take them around Cape Town today said Dewani,31,had plotted the gruesome killing.

The driver Zola Tongo giving evidence under a plea bargain deal with the state told the court “the deceased was murdered at the instance of her husband.”

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Zola was one of the three charged with the killing of the woman and has been sentenced to 18-years for the crime.

The driver told the court that Dewani had offered 15,000 South African Rands (1,300 pounds) to do away with his wife.

Following Zola’s confessions there was no immediate comment from the police whether they would seek extradition of the British-Indian husband.

There was also no word whether the police would seek the help of British authorities to arrest Dewani,who has been vehemently denying that he had anything to do with his wife’s killing.

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The Indo-Swedish woman was killed after the taxi in which she was travelling with her husband on November 13 was hijacked on the outskirts of Cape Town.

Dewani in his statement to the police claimed that two armed men had held up the car at gunpoint and driven away with his wife after ejecting him.

There was also no comment from police whether they would now ask British authorities to arrest Dewani or whether they would ask for him to be brought back to South Africa.

Anni’s father Vinod Hindocha,broke down in tears as he left the court after hearing that she had been murdered in what was referred to by prosecutor Rodney de Kok as “a plan of subterfuge.”

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Prosecutors reportedly consulted Hindocha and not Shrien,on the plea agreement which they asked Cape Judge President John Hlophe to ratify.

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