KOCHI: The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) court in Ernakulam has acquitted a Palluruthy native accused in a case involving the disappearance of his wife, Smitha of Edappally, who went missing in Dubai in September 2005.
The accused, Antony alias Sabu, was alleged to have concealed his illicit relationship with another woman, Devayani, and married Smitha.
Following their marriage, Antony took Smitha to Dubai and allegedly housed her at Devayani’s residence. It was claimed that he tortured Smitha, which led to her disappearance. Later, a forged letter was allegedly written claiming that Sunitha had left with her male friend.
The case, initially registered at Palluruthy police station, was transferred to the Crime Branch and later to the CBI. In 2016 Devayani died after consuming poison while the CBI took her to Ahmedabad for a lie detection test.
During the trial, the court found no evidence to support the prosecution’s claims against Antony. The court noted that the allegation of cruelty towards Smitha was merely a hypothesis, lacking concrete evidence.
Notably, Smitha had spent only three days in Dubai with Antony, during which a neighbour from Edappally reported seeing her at a church, indicating that she was not in a depressive state.
Though the key evidence in the case is the letter, it took a significant amount of time to reach the investigation officer, and when it finally did, there was no credible evidence regarding its origin. Moreover, the tests to analyse whether Antony was speaking falsehood favoured him holding him to be truthful.
“All tests to examine whether the accused has any connection with regard to the missing of the victim showed him to be innocent,” the court observed.
After the trial began, the CBI received a response from UAE authorities that an unidentified body was found at a hospital in Sharjah on September 6, 2009.
The forensic and DNA analysis revealed that the body belonged to Smitha, while the cause of the death was natural. Consequently, the court acquitted Antony of all charges and ordered his release.