Honeymoon in Cape Town: Who Killed Anni Dewani?

Summary

Podcast Summary:

Clues with Morgan Absher and Kaylyn Moore
Episode: Honeymoon in Cape Town: Who Killed Anni Dewani?
Release Date: June 10, 2026
Duration: ~82 minutes (not including ads, intros, outros)
Theme:
A forensic deep-dive into the murder of Anni Hindocha Dewani during her honeymoon in South Africa. Morgan and Kaylyn examine the events, scrutinize the investigation, explore the botched elements, highlight conflicting narratives, and discuss whether justice was truly served.

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Episode Overview

Morgan Absher and Kaylyn Moore unravel the infamous case of Anni Hindocha Dewani, a Swedish-Indian woman murdered during her honeymoon in South Africa in 2010. The episode carefully reconstructs the timeline, profiles the key players, examines forensic evidence, and critically questions the investigation's integrity. With a focus on overlooked clues and systemic failures, the hosts walk listeners through about a decade of legal battles, public suspicions, and unresolved grief.

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Key Discussion Points and Timeline

1. Introduction to the Case

• (06:41) The hosts clarify the pronunciation of Anni’s name, use her maiden name out of respect for her family, and note the complexity of the case:

  “This one is very complex. It is twisty. Buckle up.” – Morgan (05:50)

2. Timeline & Background

The Honeymoon (07:42-16:51)

• November 12, 2010: Anni and new husband Shrien Dewani arrive in Cape Town after a luxury safari.
• They meet taxi driver Zola Tongo under informal circumstances; Shrien books him as their driver for the rest of their stay.
• November 13: After a day at the pool, the couple, dressed expensively, have dinner in Strand and take a beach walk.
• Return to minivan—by late evening, Shrien is seen alone, frantically seeking help in the township of Khayelitsha. Anni is missing.

Anni & Shrien’s Story (11:25-16:51)

• Both from Indian families expelled from Uganda, raised in Europe (Anni in Sweden, Shrien in the UK).
• Anni: Smart, successful product designer, model, family-oriented.
• Met through family matchmaking; relationship began as long distance. Family did background checks:

  “What’s the dirt on this guy?” – Morgan (14:44)

• Lavish Mumbai wedding (Oct 2010), luxury honeymoon planned by Shrien—destination was a surprise to Anni.

3. The Night Anni Disappeared: Crime Details

• (16:51-19:29) After dinner, Shrien is found alone in a dangerous area; he claims a carjacking took place, orchestrated by two armed assailants who took Anni.

  “Ani Hindocha will never be seen alive again.” – Kaylyn (07:41)

4. Initial Investigation & Forensics

• Police find Anni’s body in the abandoned minivan, bloodied, shot in the neck at close range, with small stab wounds and finger-bruising—suggesting violence but not sexual assault.

  “This essentially proved to the examiner that Ani was trying to cover her face and neck…” – Morgan (24:04)

• (24:52) Gun is recovered: a cheap Norinco pistol traced to a local owner who “failed to report it stolen,” but wasn’t charged.

• (26:44) Fingerprints found on minivan’s fender; linked to local man, Xolile Mngeni.

5. Arrests, Confessions, and Early Botches

• (29:55-31:42) Mngeni is found with taxi driver's phone; confesses on video, implicates accomplice Mziwamadoda Qwabe. Both claim the other fired the shot.

• Police recover Anni’s stolen jewelry; appears like a robbery.

• (32:39) Qwabe implicates Mngeni; points to forensic evidence (a glove), but police fail to follow up on key forensic results (gunshot residue test).

  “It’s a weird botch because it’s like an administrative mistake…or just negligence…” – Kaylyn (33:48)

6. Family Dynamics, Behavior of Shrien Dewani

• (35:01-39:19) Shrien’s odd behavior post-murder draws suspicion:

  • Throws pizza party in violation of mourning customs
  • Insists on dressing Anni’s body (against Hindu tradition), handles her roughly, prevents her family from private goodbyes
  • Family begins to suspect him as suspect rather than victim

  “That’s so weird that Srian would even persuade him against it. It’s like that’s his daughter…” – Morgan (28:38)

7. Taxi Driver Tongo’s Arrest & Plea Deal

• (40:26–46:36) Taxi driver Zola Tongo turns himself in, fearing police brutality (context: broad police corruption/brutality in SA).

• Plea deal: 18 years in exchange for testifying that Shrien paid him to set up a hit on Anni.

• November 22: Publicist Max Clifford brought in for PR by Dewani family—further separating the two families.

  “On December 7, 2010… Tongo appeared in court and revealed that he had actually made a deal…” – Kaylyn (45:28)

8. The Case Against Shrien – Prosecution Evidence

Extradition and Legal Fight (49:34–56:22)

• UK authorities arrest Shrien; he fights extradition citing mental health (including hospitalizations, possible suicide attempt). Anni’s family believes he’s faking.
• “Botchboard”: key evidence never pursued, including forensic testing and police notes stopped after alleged media leaks (67:34).

The Motive: Shrien’s Double Life (58:46–61:40)

• Prosecution: Shrien was secretly bisexual, planning a hit to escape a sham marriage without being outed/divorced.

• Detailed evidence of gay sex work, BDSM encounters, activity on dating hookup sites.

  “His computer logged into two gay hookup sites the night that Anni died. And again two days after the murder.” – Morgan (61:40)

• Defense: Preempts prosecution by admitting Shrien’s infidelity and sexuality in legal statements.

The Victim’s Perspective (63:19)

• Anni considered divorce; texts to family:

  “I hate him.” and “I don’t want to marry him. I’m going to be unhappy for the rest of my life.”

• Family reports Shrien never consumated marriage, lied about infertility.

9. Trials, Contradictory Testimony, and Systemic Failures

• All main suspects give inconsistent or self-serving confessions, often contradicting each other and changing stories.

• Star witness Tongo’s testimony lacks credibility.

• Key forensic evidence (gunshot residue on glove) overlooked or “forgotten.”

• Audio and CCTV evidence suggest taxi driver and mid-level perpetrators orchestrated the crime, with no hard evidence Shrien ordered a hit.

  “In all of these recordings, there was no clear mention of Srian paying them for a hit.” – Morgan (70:01)

10. Exoneration and Lingering Questions

• Judge rules insufficient evidence to convict Shrien Dewani; he is exonerated and returns to the UK (74:23).

• Tongo paroled in 2022. Qwabe remains in prison until at least 2027. Main hitman Mngeni died in custody. Shrien has remained mostly out of the public eye, now reportedly in a relationship with a man.

  “The chances of ever finding out the truth are just basically zero at this point.” – Kaylyn (77:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On investigation failures:

  “If they would have checked, they would have found that the glove tested positive for gunshot residue. Meaning Kwabe was almost certainly the one who fired the gun.”
  – Morgan (34:24)

• On Dewani’s behavior:

  “Shrien tried to stop them from putting roses in Anni’s coffin, saying that it would make her final resting place look like a dustbin.”
  – Kaylyn (36:35)

• On the contradictory confessions:

  “Nothing anyone is saying is true at this point.”
  – Morgan (70:01)

• On lingering doubts:

  “Truly, I don’t know where I fall right now… I’m very Confused right now.”
  – Morgan (78:20)

• On Anni's supposed decision to tour slums at night:

  “That, to me, I don’t buy that she was the one. You know, she didn’t even wanna go to South Africa in the first place and now she wants to drive around… in the pitch black at night.”
  – Kaylyn (78:33)

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Important Timestamps by Segment

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 06:41 | Discussing name pronunciation, family background | | 07:42 | Sequence of honeymoon events, introduction of taxi driver | | 13:51 | Anni and Shrien’s relationship development | | 16:51 | The night of the crime: “Ani will never be seen alive again.” | | 23:24 | Forensic findings: cause of death and overlooked clues | | 29:55 | Arrests and confessions: Mngeni and Qwabe | | 33:48 | Police administrative errors: “It's a weird botch…” | | 35:01 | Shrien's post-murder behavior sparks family suspicion | | 45:28 | Taxi driver Tongo’s plea deal, prosecution names Shrien as suspect | | 58:46 | Kobe's and Mngeni’s courtroom outcomes | | 61:40 | Dewani’s secret life, confessions as trial strategy | | 63:16 | Trial: Anni’s feelings about marriage and evidence of planned divorce | | 70:01 | Wiretaps and the absence of evidence directly linking Dewani to the plot | | 74:23 | Exoneration, aftermath and current statuses | | 78:33 | Hosts reflect on the impossibility of knowing the truth | | 79:24-81:27| Gender-based violence PSA and coverage of missing person case of Mayushi Bhagat |

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The Hosts’ Reflections & Theories

• Both Kaylyn and Morgan remain undecided at the end; the evidence is too compromised, with too many inconsistencies, police missteps, and plausible alternative narratives.
• The “slum tour” story is one sticking point against Shrien; Anni’s family strongly doubts she would have chosen this route, given her outfit and demeanor.
• The possibility that Shrien orchestrated the killing is balanced by the equally plausible scenario that he simply hired a risky driver and fell victim to a robbery targeting wealthy tourists.
• The hosts emphasize the ongoing pain for Anni's family, the lack of closure, and urge listeners to share their own theories in the comments.

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Activism & Social Message

• The episode ends with a call to action about gender-based violence in South Africa and a missing person spotlight for Mayushi Bhagat, providing hotline details and urging community vigilance. (79:24)

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Conclusion

This episode of Clues offers a meticulous, sensitive, and at times frustrated re-examination of Anni Dewani’s murder. With rich detail, empathetic storytelling, and sharp forensic analysis, Morgan and Kaylyn leave no stone unturned—except, perhaps, those abandoned by authorities themselves. The truth behind Anni’s death remains officially unresolved, with the hosts and audience alike circling the central question: was this a stranger-driven crime or a deeply planned conspiracy?

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For full resources, photos, and case materials discussed, follow @CluesPodcast on Instagram and @CluesPod on YouTube.
Listener participation encouraged: share your theories and reactions in comments or on social media.

Transcript

[Kayla Moore]

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[Morgan Absher]

Subscribe to Crime House plus and get every episode of Clues plus every show across the Crime House lineup ad free and released early.

[Kayla Moore]

You'll also get at least two bonus episodes every month from across Crime House. To join, go to crimehouseplus.com or if you listen on Apple Podcasts, tap try free at the top of the Cluz show page.

[Narrator/Ad Host]

This is Crime House.

[Kayla Moore]

Ani Hindocha had just had her lavish dream wedding and she and her husband were headed out on a honeymoon safari in South Africa.

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

I'm Kayla Moore and I'm going to be the one digging deeper into the timelines, the backstories and the court files released on these cases.

[Morgan Absher]

And I'm your Internet sleuth Morgan Absher. I'm the one who's diving into anything I can find online to talk about the lesser known details and pull up 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 Crime House lineup. Subscribe to Crime House plus and get at least two bonus episodes from across Crime House 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.

[Narrator/Ad Host]

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[Morgan Absher]

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[Kayla Moore]

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[Morgan Absher]

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[Kayla Moore]

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[Morgan Absher]

Visit elloproducts.com and use code try Ello20 for 20% off your first purchase. That's E L L O P R O D u c t s.com code trylo20 before we jump in, can I

[Kayla Moore]

shout out a listener?

[Morgan Absher]

Yes, of course.

[Kayla Moore]

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. 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.

[Morgan Absher]

I did DNA gel stuff in college. It was so crazy. Yeah, you see it? Little secret. We again, we're gonna find her and we're gonna go do shadow with her.

[Kayla Moore]

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 Heart Starts 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.

[Morgan Absher]

I know I wanted to give Mariska Hargitay a shout out because she's one of the main actresses on Law and Order svu and she's done amazing work getting unprocessed essay kits, process. And I think she just cleared out one states. I'm gonna.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah, I think 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.

[Morgan Absher]

I'll find a couple with you. We can.

[Kayla Moore]

Literally thinking about that too. Yeah, yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

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. So. Wow, that's amazing, Mariska.

[Kayla Moore]

Incredible. But we have a big one that we're going to dive into today.

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

Yes. And we're also going to be using her maiden name, Hindocha, more so than Diwani, 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.

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

Yes. We are going to be talking a little bit over there about the Alec Murdaugh overturning the conviction.

[Kayla Moore]

Gosh.

[Morgan Absher]

Because we got a lot of messages from you guys asking us our thoughts on that. So that'll be over on our socials.

[Kayla Moore]

And we're in the Netflix documentary that just came out about it.

[Morgan Absher]

I know.

[Kayla Moore]

We were shocked to see that.

[Morgan Absher]

We had no idea you guys and listeners kept sending me, like, screenshots of us on Netflix. And I was like, what? What is this?

[Kayla Moore]

What is this?

[Morgan Absher]

I'm finally on Netflix, Mom. I made it.

[Kayla Moore]

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 they wanted to

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

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 Srian Diwani and his new wife, 28 year old Ani, 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 Srian are exhausted when they step outside the airport and they see a huge line for a taxi. But Shreen spots a driver nearby next to a Volkswagen minivan. They start chatting and the driver, who's this 31 year old named Zola Tongo, 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 Tongo. 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 Sirian asks Tongo to come back tomorrow and drive them to dinner. After checking in, Ani goes up to the room while Shri an returns outside to make arrangements with Tongo. Around 5.30pm, 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 11:30pm Then the next day, that's November 13, Ani and Trian spend the day at the hotel pool. Trian makes a brief trip out driven by Tongo, as was arranged the night before, to exchange US dollars for South African random. And around 6pm they get dressed for dinner. They have a drink at the hotel bar and they wait for Tongo who arrives at 7:30pm 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. Srian was wearing a dark suit, an open collared 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 actually decide that they want something lighter. Tongo suggests a seaside spot in the former resort town of Strand, 30 minutes southeast. They take him up on this suggestion and they end up getting sushi followed by a romantic walk on the beach. At around 10:15pm they get back in Tango's 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 11.30pm, Srian is frantically banging 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 Neelam in the United Kingdom. They fell in love, they married, they settled in Maristad, Sweden. And there Vinod 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 Hindocha 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 Ani 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 Ani's aunts spotted a handsome young businessman at a party in London and got his phone number for Ani. His name was Srian Diwani. He was two years older than Ani and he was very successful. It was known that he was already a millionaire. And Srian'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. Shrine 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 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, Srian 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, Shrian 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, Ani traveled from Sweden to Bristol where he took her to a West End production of the Lion King. It went well, but when you talk to her family about it, they said that she didn't like him very much at this first date.

[Morgan Absher]

I know. Hearing her sister talk about how Ani mentioned their first date, she was like, she wasn't into him.

[Kayla Moore]

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 Srian 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, Srian met Ani's parents in Sweden. And 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.

[Morgan Absher]

What's the dirt on this guy? Is there anything we should worry about?

[Kayla Moore]

100%, as any parent would. And the reviews pretty much all came back positive. The only thing was that Srian 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. Srian 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, Srian 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 dollars at today's exchange rate. And five months later, on October 19, 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.

[Morgan Absher]

We're gonna insert some clips of this wedding for you guys to see. I mean, the most beautiful bride.

[Kayla Moore]

Beautiful.

[Morgan Absher]

There's videos of them dancing it. It just looks like it was a really nice wedding.

[Kayla Moore]

And everyone's. Everyone loved her, adored her. It was just, it was a day for her. And then around November 8, they set off for their South African honeymoon. Shreyan 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 almost time to leave.

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah. She was like confused as to why they were going there.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. She was like, I don't want to go.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah. And that just gives me so much anxiety 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.

[Morgan Absher]

Absolutely.

[Kayla Moore]

And it seemed like Ani was maybe having a gut feeling about this because on November 13, 2010, the honeymoon ended abruptly and very tragically for Ani.

[Morgan Absher]

That brings us back to the night Srian and Ani went out for dinner at 11:30pm rent, Srian is banging on the doors in Khylicha. 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, Srian 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, Srian calmed down enough to give a statement. His story is our first clue, according to Srian. After dinner, their driver, Tongo, took them on a tour of Cape Town's townships. Srian told the police that this was actually Ani's idea. Earlier that night, on the way to dinner, Srian 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. Srian said that Ani had found the wealthy parts of South Africa a bit boring and 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 10.45pm, 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 Tongo aside and took the wheel. The other wedged himself into the backseat. With Ani and Sri in, they then sped to the nearest gas station, forced Tongo out at gunpoint, and went east away from Cape Town. In Khayelitsha, about 15 minutes southeast of Guletu, they stopped again. They screamed at Srian 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 Srian 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 backseat. Suddenly, Srin is alone, middle of the night in Khylicha. No money, no phone, dirt road, no street lights. And that's when he started banging on doors at 11.30pm he said he had no idea where they took Ani or or who they were. Even within hours, though, at least one of those questions would be answered, and in the most horrifying way possible.

[Kayla Moore]

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[Morgan Absher]

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[Kayla Moore]

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[Kayla Moore]

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[Morgan Absher]

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[Kayla Moore]

Want ad free and early access to Clues?

[Morgan Absher]

Subscribe to Crime House plus and get every episode of Clues plus every show across the Crime House lineup ad free and released early.

[Kayla Moore]

You'll also get at least two bonus episodes every month from across Crime House. To join, go to crimehouseplus.com or if you listen on Apple Podcasts, tap try free at the Top of the Clues show 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

[Morgan Absher]

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[Kayla Moore]

Yes, over 1 million people have found care with Alma. Get started now at hello Alma.com clues that's hello Alma.com C L U E S A little after midnight on November 14, 2010, police took Srian back to the Cape Grace Hotel while they searched for Ani. They quickly got confirmation on at least part of his story. While Srian was in Kyleicha looking for help, Tongo had walked into the Google II 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 Srian was arriving at the same moment, also in a police car. Inside, Srian 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 Gugala 2 and Khayelitsha, calling every available officer. A few hours later, they located an abandoned minivan parked on a road in Khayelitsha. Early on November 14, less than 10 hours after the carjacking, police surrounded the van. Inside, they found Ani's motionless body in the backseat, soaked in blood.

[Morgan Absher]

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 paramedics on no evidence of a struggle, with 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 5-10cm from her skin, extremely close range, basically suggesting that this was an execution. Now the gun was later recovered at a shack in Khayelitsha, making that our third clue. The gun was a 762 millimeter Norinco 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 shoprite 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 researchers 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.

[Kayla Moore]

That's just wild to me.

[Morgan Absher]

It does feel a little bit of a botch.

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

And I mean it's one of those things too. Like I was reading about, more about the area and it's a place that has a. At least like around the time of Ani's death, I think there were, there was a murder every two and A half days, something like that. There were a lot of murders that they were investigating.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

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 prince actually belonged to a 26 year old man named Kolele Mini, who had been arrested five years earlier for allegedly killing a man in a bar fight. Those charges were later dropped. But by 2010, Khalil was unemployed and living with family in Khailicha, 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.

[Kayla Moore]

That same day, November 14, Srian called Ani's father, Vinod before he knew that her body had been found. He told Vinod that Ani had been kidnapped and he apologized for not protecting her. Vinod immediately booked a flight to South Africa, thinking that he might need to pay a ransom. And Srian's father, Prakash Diwani also volunteered to help. The two planned to meet in Amsterdam and then fly to Cape Town together. But during their layover, Venod called home and that's when he found out that Ani had been murdered. Bernad 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 15, where Swedish and British diplomats escorted them to the Cape Grace Hotel. The following morning, Bernad wanted to see Ani's body at the morgue, but Srian talked him out of it and he thought that was a little strange. Srian said she was quote, all drained out and needed to be freshened up with embalming fluid first. That comment did not sit right with Vanad. It sounded very callous, like Srian was criticizing Ani's appearance after her death. But still, even if he was getting a bad feeling from that comment, he agreed that he would wait.

[Morgan Absher]

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 Srian would even persuade him against it. It's like that's his daughter seeing like.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah, criticizing her appearance, maybe.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kayla Moore]

Bernard spent November 15th at the hotel where Srian 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 16, Vinod insisted on seeing his daughter, but Srian refused to come along, saying that he needed to spend time alone. When Bernaud returned, he noticed Srian had gotten a haircut and was wearing a brand new suit. On the 17th, Srian, Vinod, 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 Khalil at a friend's house a few hundred yards from the crime scene. He was sleeping off a hangover with another man and 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.

[Morgan Absher]

Once Kalile 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 our fifth clue. The police kept it a secret at the time, and the public didn't find out what Khalil said until two years later in 2012. But the day he was arrested in 2010, he admitted he had an accomplice, a man named Mizzy Wamadota Kwabe. After the two men hijacked Tongo's car, Khalil said Srian offered them money and begged for his life. Quabe then told the couple that they had dropped them off separately, one at a time, but that they would both be released alive. Sri and begged them not to separate him from Ani. And that's when Kwabe shouted at Sri an and forced him out of that car's back window. Then they drove off with Ani in the backseat. 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 Kwabe why he'd done it. So Khalil was claiming that Kwabe 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 a interview with Kwabe'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.

[Kayla Moore]

Interesting. I hadn't heard that. Wow.

[Morgan Absher]

Shortly after Khalil's arrest, police found Ani's bracelet and Armani wristwatch 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.

[Kayla Moore]

And that really didn't take very long. On November 17, prosecutors filed kidnapping and murder charges against Khalil. And the very next day, November 18, police arrested their second suspect, 26 year old Miziwamadoda Kwabe. Turns out he was Khalil's neighbor. Kwabe was unemployed, but he made money selling drugs, also DJing on the side. And like Khalil, he very quickly confessed. But he pointed the finger in the opposite direction, saying Khalil was the one who pulled the trigger. And he said that he could prove it. All they had to do was take him back to the crime scene. And when they heard that, the detectives agreed to do it. What Quabe showed them led to one of the case's most shocking botches.

[Morgan Absher]

On November 18, 2010, detectives brought Kwabe 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 Kwabe 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 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 Kwabe was wearing the gloves when he was the one that then fired the gun. If not, Kolele 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.

[Kayla Moore]

It's a weird botch because it's like an administrative mistake possibly or I don't

[Morgan Absher]

know, or just negligence to not follow

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kayla Moore]

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. No proper people.

[Morgan Absher]

And if they would have checked, they would have found that the glove tested positive for gunshot residue. Meaning Kwabe was almost certainly the one who fired the gun.

[Kayla Moore]

Right.

[Morgan Absher]

But because they never followed up, Kolele and Kwabe both just kept pointing fingers at each other. And it's like, okay, you're. It's like Spider man meme, who's pointing at who.

[Kayla Moore]

Right.

[Morgan Absher]

All you had to do is go follow up with the lab. You had the results right there.

[Kayla Moore]

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 gonna get a choice. Yeah, we'll just get them both.

[Morgan Absher]

It doesn't really matter.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah. Okay. I guess one of you, like, was the one that actually pulled the trigger. But both of you are like, obviously culpable. 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, Srian hosted a 500 person pizza party to celebrate Ani's life. Before the funeral took place, her father Vinod was deeply offended because this actually violated Gujarati mourning customs which prohibit parties during the mourning period. He asked Srian to cancel it, but Srian 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 Sneha were both in conflict with Srian that week. In the lead up to the funeral, Sneha heard Srian 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 Ammi and Sneha to perform this ritual. But Srian showed up at the funeral parlor on the morning of November 19, and he forced his way in.

[Morgan Absher]

This next part is honestly so disturbing. And hearing Ani'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.

[Kayla Moore]

So this is according to Ami. Srian handled Ani's body very roughly. He, at one point, was trying to force br. Bangles onto her swollen wrists.

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah. And Ami cried out at one point, stop it. You're hurting her. Which is just devastating to hear that. And Sri an then dropped Ani's arm with, like, this loud thud. 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 Srian, you know, he later denied all of this. Vinod also said Srian tried to stop them from putting roses in Ani's coffin, saying that it would make her final resting place look like a dustbin. I don't understand that, but okay.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. The family themselves, I've. I've watched clips of them talking about this experience, and the whole funeral process for them was just horrific. From Sri an 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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

And her parents ended up only getting two minutes with her to say goodbye.

[Kayla Moore]

Horrible.

[Morgan Absher]

Like, two minutes.

[Kayla Moore]

Devastating.

[Morgan Absher]

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 had known her for months.

[Kayla Moore]

Like, right, right, right.

[Morgan Absher]

Come on.

[Kayla Moore]

It's really, really sad. Vinod did, though, keep supporting Srian 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 Srian had been in league with the hijackers. And Ani'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 10am on Saturday, November 20, a week after the murder, the ceremony began in a London concert hall. There were 1500 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, Tango the taxi driver. So a week earlier, Tango 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. 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 Khalil and Kwabe'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.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. So botch for police brutality.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah, police brutality will always get botched. So Tongo 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 20, the day of the funeral. And he immediately began negotiating a plea deal. Meanwhile, back in England, the press was starting to speculate about Srian, you know, on top of Ani's family. The South African police service made a shocking revelation 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 Diwani's 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 SRI and could have benefited from. But the Diwanis still decided that they needed some help. On November 22, 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 O.J. 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 Shreyan instead.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. The family at this point felt that they were getting every bit of news from the media.

[Kayla Moore]

Yes.

[Morgan Absher]

So they're like, why would we stop talking to them when that's how we're getting anything?

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah, who's this random sex pervert you hired who's like, now we're not going through him?

[Morgan Absher]

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 hidden in her jacket. The recording didn't become public until four years later, but it is our seventh clue. Sneha expected Srian 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, Srian 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. Shreen said the hijackers took it and then pushed him out of the back window. Anyways, quote, like a roly poly. Onto the road. Ani's mother asked how Srian 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. Trian 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 Prayan laid out what he believed was a political conspiracy against Trian. Prayan 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, Kwabe and Tongo completely changed their stories in exchange for plea deals, which was how Srian became implicated. So essentially, families like Srian's getting the fingers pointed at him to get the country off the hook, right?

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

This was a murder for hire, not a carjacking.

[Kayla Moore]

It's not dangerous here. Like, it was this guy in an isolated case that was very targeted.

[Morgan Absher]

He came here to hire these guys. They didn't randomly attack him.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

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 Kwabe changed his story after his arrest and that key details in Kwabe's and Khalil's confessions did contradict each other. But Khalil did stick to the botched robbery story throughout. On the recording, nobody in the room disagrees with Praen's conspiracy theory, but the Hindochas did still refuse to work with the Diwani's publicist. Srian did apologize for the funeral conflict, saying he was just feeling left out. And at the end, Venod comforted Srian, 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.

[Kayla Moore]

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 Hindochas leaned back towards suspecting Srian. The Diwanis kept insisting that he was being framed. Vinod returned to Cape Town for the hearing, but Srian 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 Sri and Diwani, the husband of the deceased and the accused, had designed to conceal the true facts. The prosecutor claimed Srian had offered tango 15,000 rand, which is like US$2,100 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 Srian was a suspect.

[Narrator/Ad Host]

After.

[Kayla Moore]

This episode is brought to you by Whatnot. I absolutely inherited my love of a good deal from my mom. She's the queen of the bargain hunt. I used to think that it was just her thing, but it turns out it's definitely my thing too. And that's why I want to talk to you today about Whatnot. Whatnot is the largest live shopping marketplace in the United States. It's a live shopping app where you can find deals on fashion, beauty, bags, jewelry and more. And you almost never pay full price on Whatnot. There are over 10,000 fashion, beauty and handbag sellers on the app going live 247 so you can shop live with sellers who welcome you in and communities that keep you coming back. You can hop on a stream and score a stunning Coach Leather tote bag. Some people have found them for only $45 and they'll show you the interior lining. They'll also answer questions in real time on what you're looking for. It's a great place to shop brand names without the retail prices. Download Whatnot today and get $20 off and free shipping on your first purchase. Search whatnot W H a T N o T in the App Store, Sign up and start finding the best deals on the products you love with $20 off and free shipping on your first purchase.

[Morgan Absher]

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 denied? 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.

[Kayla Moore]

Solace matches you with a dedicated advocate, experts who take on the hardest parts of your healthcare. 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.

[Morgan Absher]

There's studies that show that 98% of patients feel more in control of their care after working with an advocate.

[Kayla Moore]

And this is something that I'm seeing play out in real time right 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.

[Morgan Absher]

It's incredible. And some of Solace advocates are registered nurses or other healthcare professionals with an average of 16 years of experience.

[Kayla Moore]

Go to Solish Health.com to see if you qualify. It takes about two minutes and it's covered by insurance. That's Solish Health.com must be 18 or older. Advocates do not provide medical or legal advice.

[Narrator/Ad Host]

Hi, my name is Lloyd Lockridge and I'm the host of a new podcast from Odyssey called Family Lore. In this podcast I'm going to have people on to tell unusual and sometimes far fetched stories about their families.

[Kayla Moore]

I've heard my whole life that she

[Morgan Absher]

invented the margarita and then we're going

[Narrator/Ad Host]

to investigate those stories and find out how much of it is true. He gets a patent one month before the Wright Brothers.

[Morgan Absher]

Oh my God.

[Narrator/Ad Host]

Please follow and listen to Family Lore, an Odyssey podcast available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows.

[Kayla Moore]

On December 7, 2010, South African police confirmed 30 year old Sri and Diwani was a suspect in the murder of his new wife Ani Hindocha. The next day, December 8, South African authorities began trying to extradite him from England and this forced the London Metropolitan Police to issue a warrant for Sharia'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 US$395,000 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 Srian beyond Tongo's deal driven testimony.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, I mean prosecutors were keeping their legal strategy pretty close to the chest, but they were relying heavily on our eighth clue, which is money changing hands. On November 16, three days after the hijacking, Tongo 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 Srian at the time and put Srian on the phone with Tongo. During that call, Srian asked how he could contact Tongo 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 Tongo 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, Tongo was apparently asked by Sharan 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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah. Yeah, I guess he probably had, like, other people who could have hired. He could have gotten the helicopter from.

[Morgan Absher]

Well, and a lot of people thought it was so odd he would even hire Tongo in the first place because the hotel had luxury drivers.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

Like, this is a really bougie hotel.

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kayla Moore]

And, okay, the line is a little short, but, like, everyone at the time knew how dangerous 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, like, an off the books driver was, like, a choice.

[Morgan Absher]

I know. Regardless, Tongo called Strand back later to arrange a meeting. The hotel's CCTV cameras actually captured them walking into the hotel's communications room together, where Srian handed Tango an envelope in a plastic bag. Sri. And left before Tango could count it. He did count it, though. In the restroom, out of CCTV view. But cameras caught Tango looking frustrated when he came out. The envelope contained 1,000 South African rand, much less than the 15,000 random 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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah, yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

The fact that this is even happening is like, huh?

[Kayla Moore]

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?

[Morgan Absher]

What's really strange is Tongo didn't mention receiving any money from Srian in his initial sworn affidavit following the plea agreement. But on December 22, 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.

[Kayla Moore]

It wasn't completely damning, though, because Srian 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 Srian's appeal. And then In January of 2011, Shrine's lawyer said that he was too unwell 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. Shran 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 Hindochas 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 Srian 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 UK 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, like he's gonna

[Morgan Absher]

be emotionally unwell forever.

[Kayla Moore]

Yes. I don't even know why they would have said that.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kayla Moore]

So. While Srian continued his treatment in England, the cases in South Africa moved forward. In August of 2012, Kwabe made a plea deal. After initially pleading not guilty and claiming his confession was coerc, 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 Srian had hired Tango, who brought the hitmen in, and that Kwabe knew all along that the plan was to release Srian safely and kill Ani in exchange for a share of 15,000 rand. Khalil 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.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, he had multiple brain Surgeries before he even took to the stand.

[Kayla Moore]

Wow.

[Morgan Absher]

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 stories could have affected him.

[Kayla Moore]

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 Kwabe 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, Khalil 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 5 years. And by the way, the gunshot residue results from Kwabe's glove were never mentioned in Kalile's trial because the police still hadn't looked at them.

[Morgan Absher]

But what about his lawyer? Like, that is crazy that that was not brought up.

[Kayla Moore]

I know, I know. And now he needs to spend the rest of his life in jail. Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

With a brain tumor, like being sick,

[Kayla Moore]

it's just like not getting like self

[Morgan Absher]

care and it's like he's telling this story and the two other ones that are now agreeing with each other have switched their story continuously.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

Like, which is it? The evidence says this, but you're not even looking at the evidence.

[Kayla Moore]

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, Srian'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, Khalil was in the end stages of his cancer. Though prosecutors still hoped that he would testify on day one, Shreen'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.

[Morgan Absher]

That statement is how the world learned about the prosecution's alleged motive. Our ninth clue, Srian's sexuality and infidelity. Srian's police statement acknowledged that he had sexual experiences with both men and women, including male sex workers. The prosecution planned to argue that Srian actually killed Ani to escape a marriage that would expose his sexuality. In their theory, they said that Srian was living a double life, terrified that a divorce would out 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 Srian confessed to affairs and sex up front, the less damaging testimony the prosecution could introduce.

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

We need a South African, specifically lawyer to chime in on this.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah, because I'm just curious how that works out in other trials.

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

Oh, my gosh.

[Morgan Absher]

That sex worker was a 43 year old German man living in the UK. He was then called to testify he had seen Srian three times for BDSM sex, communicating through the site Gaydar. On one occasion, Srian slept over, which was unusual for his clients. He described how Srian liked to be treated during sex, including being called racial slurs. The sex worker also mentioned Texting Srian. On December 3, 2010, just two and a half weeks after ANI's murder, he noticed that Srian had deleted his gaydar profile. When he asked, Srian said he was okay, just very busy. The prosecution hoped that the sex worker would testify and show that Srian 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 Ani died. And again two days after the murder.

[Kayla Moore]

Oh, it reminds me of, Remember Scott Peterson, how after Lacy went missing, he upgraded his cable service to have, like, 10 hardcore porn channels?

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kayla Moore]

What is wrong? Oh, my gosh. It just, like, so upsetting.

[Morgan Absher]

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 Srian 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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah, that was a big part of it.

[Morgan Absher]

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

[Kayla Moore]

he's like, having sex with sex workers the whole time. And on these sites, on these sites,

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah, of course. So, I mean, and they have the digital records, right? They can just look at his computer and be like, wow. I mean, after your wife died, you were on these sites.

[Morgan Absher]

The Hindochas were so angry about this that they actually intended to sue him for their share of wedding costs, arguing that the entire marriage was a fraud.

[Kayla Moore]

Wow.

[Morgan Absher]

And it gets worse. Yeah, it gets so much worse.

[Kayla Moore]

So as the trial got underway, prosecutors argued that Ani was already regretting the marriage and was actually already planning to divorce Srian. When they returned to the uk, they introduced text messages showing Ani complaining about Sri an 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. 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.

[Morgan Absher]

What ugly duckling?

[Kayla Moore]

And then he 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, there was none of that ever came up during the trial. Like, that was a lie.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. And I will say family members did say that they did not have sex on this honeymoon either.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

So it's like, okay, now we're married. We're still not having sex happening. And so that was a big part of, like, why she was gonna pursue divorce once she got home, but was texting people, like, divorce is so scary. And. Yeah, we'll just deal with it when we get back.

[Kayla Moore]

We just got married, and that's embarrassing to get divorced, like, immediately afterwards, you know, because people make judgments. Yeah, I. I get the stress of it. Prosecutors said Srian 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, Shrian approached Tongo after that first airport ride and asked him to arrange a hit. When Tongo testified, he said he was originally told that the target was Srian's business partner. Not wife, but business partner. To avoid any questions about why he wanted his wife killed, he claimed Srian offered 15,000 rand for the job. And then after speaking to Srian, Tongo went to a guy he knew named Monde Mimbalambo. Maunde agreed to help, and he contacted Kwabe, who recruited Kaleeli. And Tongo said he briefed Srian on the plan, and it was this. A fake carjacking was going to happen where Srian would be safely released, then Ani would be taken elsewhere, and she would be killed. Tango testified the hit was originally supposed to happen earlier that day before dinner, when he drove them to Gugula, too, for the first attempt. But the hitmen weren't in position yet, so that's when he took them to dinner, contacted the hitmen, and arranged a second attempt in Gugula 2. Later, he testified that both Kalele and Kwabe had guns when they got into the car, so he did not know who actually shot Ani. The prosecution also called Monday 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 Mondae said they agreed that he would get 5,000 rand for his role. Tango said he told Mondae the victim was Srian's business partner, but Mondae said They never discussed the victim's identity. It's not even like there's big parts of the. 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 nothing. Like, so many inconsistencies with everyone's story.

[Morgan Absher]

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 18, Kolele died in a prison hospital before he could even testify. By then, Srian's team had obtained the gunshot residue results from Kwabe's glove and confronted the lead detective in court. His only excuse for never reviewing the results was that he forgot.

[Kayla Moore]

I mean, it's already on the botchboard. 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 gonna get there in front of everyone, hand to God, and say, I forgot.

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

Don't they, like, have to take notes? Is it that the job, at least

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

I mean, if the media leak was real, Then did you pursue the leak?

[Kayla Moore]

I know.

[Morgan Absher]

Why not mention that then? It's giving botched. I'll give. I'll give that one.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

A mark.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah. Because. Yeah, it's bad.

[Morgan Absher]

Then we have our 10th and final clue, which is an audio recording and CCTV footage of conversations between Monde 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 Mondae was recorded calling Kwabe and giving orders, including, quote, it must happen today. This essentially contradicted both Monde and Tongo's testimony that Mondae was not involved. Beyond being the link man, Mandae 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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah, I know.

[Morgan Absher]

And in all of these recordings, there was no clear mention of Srian paying them for a hit.

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

Right now, because time stamp it, just

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

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 Srian was one call where Mandae said, quote, there's five of us. Remember, Tongo interpreted that as Mandae, Khalil, Kwabe, Srian and himself. But the judge didn't really buy that.

[Kayla Moore]

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[Morgan Absher]

zazzle.com hey, before we jump back into the show, let's take a quick break. But not just any break. This is a refreshing break with Snapple. We all know about Snapple's iconic real facts, so let's take a minute to go over some of my favorites. Snapple Real fact 964 it is illegal in the United Kingdom to handle salmon in suspicious circumstances. Snapple Real fact 1013 it is illegal to sing off key in North Carolina. Snapple Real Fact 2033Americans consume 150 million hot dogs on July 4th. Snapple Real Fact 705 Every ton of recycled paper saves about 17 trees. So grab a Snapple, take a second and enjoy the moment. Because let's be honest, this might be the most refreshing part of your day. Snapple make your break more interesting. Alright, now let's get back to clues.

[Kayla Moore]

And this led to the 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 rand he claimed was offered. Srian 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 Monde, with Tango selling out his wealthy passengers for a quick score, which to

[Morgan Absher]

some people online is very believable given the fact that Tongo did drive Srian to go and exchange the US 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. He saw what they were wearing.

[Kayla Moore]

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. 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.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kayla Moore]

And as for why they took Ani but let Srian live, the defense argued that they planned to hold her for ransom, possibly sexually assault her. On November 17, 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 8, the judge agreed with that, and Srian was exonerated of all charges. Almost seven years went by with few updates in the case. And then in 2021, Monde appeared in a documentary, crying and apologizing for his role in all of this. But he stuck to the story that Srian was behind it. The Hindochas 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. Tongo was paroled in 2022 over the Hindocha's objections. After serving half of his 18 year sentence, Khalil died from his condition behind bars before he could even make it in to testify. In the fall of 2014, Kwabe remains in prison to this day. He asked for an earlier parole date in exchange for testifying against Srian, but the court refused. He's going to be eligible for parole next year. In 2027, after serving two thirds of his time, Srian 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,

[Morgan Absher]

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?

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

And now he's like, but was that just a strategy?

[Kayla Moore]

No, I know. That's what I can't wrap my head around.

[Morgan Absher]

I know I'm bamboozled in the brain by this one.

[Kayla Moore]

Everything is still floating around in my head and it 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'd 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.

[Morgan Absher]

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

[Kayla Moore]

so many times, so much? 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.

[Morgan Absher]

No. 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.

[Kayla Moore]

I know.

[Morgan Absher]

And then the CCTV footage comes out and you have these recordings of what they're saying, but it's like, oh, my God.

[Kayla Moore]

I know. And it doesn't support the SRI and story for the most part.

[Morgan Absher]

No.

[Kayla Moore]

If nothing they ever said beforehand supports the Srian 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 Srian is a victim in all of this. There's also a chance that Sriran was the perpetrator of all this. And so that's why I'm really just throwing it to you guys who are watching this.

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

Knowing all the facts that we know,

[Kayla Moore]

I think I, I guess for me the thing that implicates SRI in 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 wanna go to South Africa in the first place and now she wants to drive around the city slums in the pitch black at night.

[Morgan Absher]

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.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

These high heels. Why would she want to go and see this neighborhood in the middle of the night? There's no lights.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah. Right.

[Morgan Absher]

There's what's there to see.

[Kayla Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

And so they're like, that's not Ani. She wouldn't have done that.

[Kayla Moore]

Yes. And Trian insisted that it was.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. So that is a good point to bring up.

[Kayla Moore]

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 0800-428-428 features a Please Call Me facility by dialing Star Star 120, Star Star 7867 and persons with disabilities can text HELP231531 and there's also the South African police services. You can call the crime stop number at 086-001-0111. This week we're highlighting the case of Mayushi Bhagat. Mayushi Bhagat 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. Bhagat was reported missing by her family on May 1, 2019. She was attending the New York Institute of Technology in New York City and was in the United states on an F1 student visa. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the location or recovery of Mayushi Bhagat and the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible. Bhagat 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.

[Morgan Absher]

And that is all we have for this episode of Clues.

[Kayla Moore]

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.

[Morgan Absher]

So much. I'm still sitting here, I'm like, wait. Also, he hired Tongo to find him a helicopter. Yeah, I know 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 ad free access, subscribe to Crime House plus at crimehouseplus.com or if you listen on Apple Podcasts, tap try free at the top of the Clues page. Thanks guys.

[Kayla Moore]

Bye.

[Morgan Absher]

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 Kaylin Moore on YouTube and remember, every clue counts. Capture your favorite summer feeling with Pandora Jewelry. Discover a collection inspired by the sunshine, freedom and moments that make the season unforgettable. From sun kissed metals to personalized pieces ready to be engraved with your summer mantra, each design moves with you from beach days to golden nights and every memory in between. Green shop Pandora Jewelry's new summer collection in store or online at pandora.net and let your summer unfold.