'South Africa is not normal. These are black people': Shrien Dewani's brother launches extraordinary attack in secretly taped meeting with Anni's family amid fears her husband would be framed for murder

 

• Preyen Dewani made inflammatory remarks days after Anni's death in 2010
• He feared South African authorities would frame Dewani to protect tourism
• Transcript of meeting exposes grieving family's mistrust of her husband 
• Dewani brothers battled to convince her parents of accused's innocence 
• Two-hour conversation was secretly recorded by Anni's cousin Sneha  
• Anni's brother begs court to force Dewani to explain how his wife died

The brother of Shrien Dewani launched an extraordinary attack on South African citizens, describing them as 'not normal' and warning: 'These are black people'.

Preyen Dewani made the inflammatory comments in a crisis meeting with the parents of murdered bride Anni in which the brothers battled to convince them that Dewani had no part in her death.

A translated record of the meeting - published today by MailOnline - was secretly taped by Anni Dewani's cousin on November 22, 2010, just days after the Swedish engineer was buried.

The meeting, which was conducted in Gujarati and lasted well over two hours, reveals Preyen's fear that the South African authorities will attempt to frame his brother for murder in order to protect the country's tourist industry.  

Scroll down for full transcript of the meeting 

'These are black people': Shrien Dewani's brother Preyen (left) launched an inflammatory attack on the South African justice system in a secretly taped recording with the family of honeymoon murder victim Anni Dewani (seen, right, with her husband on their wedding day) over fears the businessman would be framed

Anni parents: 'We will sue Shrien Dewani over daughter's death'

Calling on the families to unite to defend his brother against unscrupulous forces, he warns: 'We are not dealing with anything normal here. We are dealing with South Africa.

'This is not Sweden or the UK where you have a robust police and court system. These are black people.

He was responding to the grieving family's deep mistrust of the British businessman, who is currently on trial accused of her murder. 

The transcript was accepted as an accurate record of the conversation by both the prosecution and the defence when it was submitted to the court, but it was not submitted as evidence during the trial.

The 50-page record also lays bare a number of striking discrepancies between the story the 34-year-old gave to his in-laws in November 2010 and the account he offered to a South African court eight weeks ago as he went on trial for Mrs Dewani's honeymoon murder.

Despite glaring variations in his version of events leading up to, and after, his wife's fatal shooting two weeks after their wedding, Dewani is next week widely expected to be cleared of having any hand in it. 

It comes as the Anni's brother, Anish Hindocha, today made an emotional appeal for Dewani to be forced to explain how she died. 

The meeting exposes the deep mistrust that Anni Dewani's parents, Vinod and Nilam Hindocha (above), held towards the British businessman just days after the Swedish engineer was buried

Mr Hindocha said Dewani, accused of plotting his sister's kidnap and murder, should not be allowed to leave South Africa without revealing in his own words how she met her death.

He said: 'It would be a terrible development to what has been a four-year wait, if we and the people of South Africa are not afforded the full story.'  

Judge Jeanette Traverso will rule on an application by the businessman's legal team to acquit him on five charges, following a threadbare prosecution case against him, which was undermined by a number of legal rulings to exclude testimony.

Sneha Mashru, 28-year-old Anni's first cousin and confidante, hid a tape recorder in her jacket during the lengthy talks which were organised and chaired by Dewani's brother, Preyan, at his family's central London flat, in an effort to smooth growing tensions.

Mrs Mashru told Dewani's trial at the Western Cape High Court that his heartless behaviour and unconvincing story in the wake of her cousin's murder had aroused her family's suspicions.

Mrs Dewani, an engineer, was shot dead when the taxi carrying her and Dewani through a township on the edge of Cape Town was ambushed by gunmen. 

The driver, Zola Tongo, and Dewani were freed unharmed, while the dead body of the bride was found in the abandoned vehicle the following morning. 

Tongo confessed to organising the murder, but claimed it was masterminded by Dewani. 

Covert: Anni Dewani's cousin, Sneha Mashru, hid a tape recorder in her jacket during the meeting

Prosecutors believe the new groom's secret gay life motivated him to want his wife dead.

In the transcript of the meeting, the Hindocha family's misgivings about the state of the newlyweds' relationship are obvious, prompting Preyen – an Oxford law graduate – to invite his brother to allay their suspicions.

'.. let's ask Shrien a direct question. Was there any involvement?' Preyen asks his brother

Dewani replies: 'No I had nothing to do with it whatsoever. Even if we had argued, how would I benefit by killing her?'

As his father-in-law, Vinod Hindocha, continues to quiz him about the hours and minutes before his daughter's death, with Mrs Mashru's face apparently betraying her doubts, Preyen challenges them to find any motive for his brother to want to kill his new wife.

'Why would you do such a big wedding, with everything that happened, why would, why would you, there is no life policy. You tell me – what is the benefit for Shrien there?' Preyen demands.

This prompts Dewani to add: 'Why would I spend £10,000 for First Class tickets to the best hotel in the whole of South Africa?'

As Dewani is encouraged to re-tell his dramatic account of the honeymooners' late-night ambush by gunmen on a corner in Gugulethu which saw him and Tongo freed unscathed, but Anni driven off into the dark, the in-laws interrupt with questions.

Mrs Dewani's mother, Nilam Hindocha, who does not apparently speak until 45 minutes into the crunch talks, appears puzzled by her son-in-law's claim that he had been pushed, head first, out of a rear window of the moving car and 'rolled out like a roly poly onto the road.'

'Did you not get hurt then?' the 62-year-old grieving mother demands to know.

Confirming that he was indeed left bruised after landing on his head and shoulder, Dewani plays down his injuries.

'I did not hurt myself that much. It was all on sand,' he says, adding that his suit and a white shirt that she had bought for him 'was all – you know – dirty'.

Clearly still unconvinced that two assassins – one of them at the wheel of a moving car in a pair of yellow washing-up gloves and the other brandishing a gun – had somehow managed to wrestle her athletic son-in-law out of a car window, against his will, Mrs Hindocha seeks further confirmation that this is what really happened.

She also wants to know what her daughter was doing while he was being ejected, eventually demanding: 'How you could just leave her with two black men?'

To which, Dewani replies: 'I did not have a choice.'

Preyen also informs the meeting that he has secured the services of the now-disgraced PR guru Max Clifford to limit the damage to the reputation of Dewani and the successful family business the two brothers still run with their father, Prakash.

There had been newspaper reports alleging their lucrative string of care homes was in financial straits and the family could gain from an insurance policy on Anni's life.

'We are not in any financial difficulty whatsoever. .. if you want 5 million in cash, I can write you a cheque now. 

'There is no problem with our company - the way we set and structure our company is very clever - because it is there to make sure we...,' Preyen reassures Mr Hindocha, 65, whose mobile phone interrupts his flow.

The meeting also reveals bitter disagreements over arrangements for the funeral during which the Hindocha family obviously felt sidelined. 

Ami Denborg, the dead engineer's sister, was denied time alone with her sister's body, Mr Hindocha suggests.

At one point, the grieving father-in-law tells Dewani, '.. the look you gave me at the funeral was really scary.'

He later asks, directing his question apparently at no-one in particular, 'Why her ? I should rather have died.'

Dewani denies murder and kidnapping.