London, Apr 24 (ANI): South African prosecutors attempted to 'trick' Shrien Dewani, the Indian-born millionaire charged with masterminding his wife's murder during their honeymoon in Cape Town, to detain him without the need for an extradition agreement.
Documents marked "confidential" have revealed that South African authorities reached a secret plea bargain with the principal witness against Dewani and then tried to lure him to come to Cape Town on false pretences, while intending to put the Indian-born business tycoon under trial, The Guardian reports.
According to the documents, taken from the Western Cape's directorate for priority crime investigations, the couple's driver, Zola Tongo, claimed in a plea bargain read out in the Cape high court on 7 December that Dewani had paid him 1,000 rand (90 pounds) to organise the killing of his 28-year-old wife.
The documents also show that Tongo had agreed the plea bargain two weeks earlier, on November 21, the same day when prosecutors had asked Dewani to visit Cape Town to identify his wife's jewellery.
"By late Sunday evening it had been agreed that Zola Tongo would plead guilty to ... kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.In return he would make a full disclosure of his participation in the crime and agree to testify against Shrien Dewani at later trial proceedings," the paper quoted the documents, as saying.
Unaware about the allegations against him, Dewani was asked by officials "to identify the recovered jewellery," it added.
South African police wants to prosecute Dewani over suspicion that he had arranged the murder of his wife on 13 November last year, but he dies all charges against him.
His extradition hearing on May 3 will continue on a later date, to allow time for a psychiatric report on Dewani's condition to be compiled.
Dewani was detained in a secure mental health hospital after being thrown out by Priority clinic in London. (ANI)
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