Meena Jutla is number one on everyone’s Emmerdale return list for the 50th anniversary celebrations.
She first appeared in Emmerdale in 2020. But Manpreet‘s sister and caring nurse at the heart of the community was hiding a terrible secret: She’s a serial killer.
Who is Meena? How many people did she kill?
And, crucially, is she coming back this October?
Who is Meena Jutla in Emmerdale?
Meena Jutla is the younger sister of Manpreet Sharma. She is also the aunt of Meena’s daughter Aiesha.
Meena was previously married to a man called Jeremy before her life in Emmerdale.
She arrived in the Dales in September 2020.
Emmerdale: Why did Meena fall out with Manpreet?
When Meena first arrived, Manpreet was not happy to see her sister.
It was revealed that Manpreet’s first husband Dennis cheated on her with Meena, leaving the sisters’ relationship in tatters.
Meena seemed to desperately want to fix things and after a few months, Manpreet felt she was able to trust her again.
Meena and David’s relationship
Meena quickly developed a crush on David Metcalfe.
They got off to a rocky start when he ended up standing her up on their lunch date, leaving her furious.
He later explained to her how he had been too trusting with his past girlfriend Maya, who groomed and sexually abused his son Jacob.
Meena told David he could trust her, however he was unaware she was a serial killer.
He began to grow closer to Victoria Sugden while dating Meena and a couple of times the two shared a kiss.
After much faffing around, David decided he couldn’t hide his feelings anymore and told Vic he loved her and was going to leave Meena.
Fuming Meena overheard and set out to kill Vic during the survival challenge but it didn’t go to plan and Victoria survived.
David and Victoria got together anyway, leaving Meena fuming – especially when she discovered they’d left the village for a break so she could no longer plot her revenge.
Meena moved on to Billy Fletcher
Very, very quickly after David left her, Meena set her sights on Billy Fletcher when he ‘rescued’ her from an angry Amy Wyatt shouting the odds.
She soon became obsessed with him, moving herself in and telling him she loved him.
It was clear he didn’t feel the same way and he ended up back together with former flame Dawn Taylor.
Meena didn’t take the news well and faked a pregnancy to try to keep him. Though Billy promised to support her, he and Dawn remained strong.
Meena then lied she’d lost the baby in a Christmas Day explosion at the Woolpack.
However, Dr Liam Cavanagh found out the truth and told Billy everything.
How many people has Meena killed?
Before her life in Emmerdale, Meena murdered her best friend Nadine Butler.
Leanna Cavanagh discovered the news article about Nadine’s death in Meena’s belongings.
Meena explained Nadine took her own life, but the article revealed her death was treated as suspicious.
When Leanna quizzed Meena on her friend’s death, she admitted she killed Nadine.
Despite Leanna telling Meena she would keep her killer secret, Meena refused to take any chances and murdered the teenager, making it look like an accident.
During the survival challenge Meena attempted to kill Victoria by drowning her while she was unconscious but was unsuccessful.
Her attempted murder was witnessed by Andrea Tate. Not wanting anyone to know what she did, Meena killed Andrea by bashing her head on a wooden step and leaving her in the middle of a burning maze.
However, there’s a convincing argument that Andrea is in fact still alive…
Meena then went on to try and kill Priya Sharma in her sleep after discovering she was in the maze at the time she was chasing down and killing Andrea.
However she was interrupted by a nurse and Meena later found out Priya didn’t see anything, so she decided to leave her be.
In November 2021 Meena killed Ben Tucker after he found bodycam footage of Meena trying to drown Victoria.
She hit him over the head with a kayak oar and his body was found by Dawn Taylor.
Liv Flaherty went down for Meena’s crime, but Vinny Dingle fought to get her out.
Did Meena kill Manpreet?
Manpreet became suspicious of her sibling over Christmas. She met up with Nadine’s sister and found out the truth.
But Meena was determined to keep her secret and after she and Manpreet were caught in the Woolpack explosion, Meena managed to take a frail Manpreet hostage.
She kept her tied up first in the B&B, before moving her to a barn.
Meena decided to kill her sister, but not before she’d also captured Vinny, who had followed her.
She tied them both up and tried to gas them with fumes from a van. But Liam found them in time and Meena’s murderous reign was over.
However, Meena managed to flee and hitched a lift with a handsome truck driver.
Meanwhile, Manpreet was searching for her sister when she was knocked over by Charles Anderson in his car!
Manpreet was in a coma in hospital, but recovered and told the police what she knew.
When did Meena return to Emmerdale?
Meena came back on Valentine’s Day determined to ruin Billy and Dawn’s wedding day.
She took the bride and groom hostage and told Billy to choose which one of them was going to die.
But she actually ended up shooting Leyla Cavanagh who had come out looking for them.
Meena also assaulted Harriet Finch and left her for dead.
Fortunately, both Leyla and Harriet survived.
Did Liam push Meena?
After Meena’s revenge plan went wrong she tried to run again, but Liam caught up with her.
He wanted answers over daughter Leanna’s death – as well as the shooting of his wife, Leyla.
As Meena taunted him over Leanna’s stupidity on the same bridge where she pushed her, Liam lashed out and pushed Meena.
Only, unlike Leanna, she survived and immediately reported him to the police when she regained consciousness.
However, Manpreet saw the whole thing and lied for Liam that it was self-defence.
The police bought their version of events and Meena was arrested and charged with nearly all her crimes, while Liam remains free.
Meena was determined to make Manpreet pay though and told the police Manpreet killed Andrea!
What happened during Meena’s trial?
What didn’t happen?!
Meena had been charming her prison guard Officer Beeker, and asked him to leave a gate open for her so she could escape if found guilty.
But she geuniely believed she would get away with the murders.
Already having confessed to the lesser charges of kidnap, she would have been serving some time anyway, but felt sure she could lie her way out of the more serious charges.
Liam faltered on the stand and lashed out when he was accused of an affair with her, and then Manpreet was painted as a liar with a grudge.
However, the jury saw through Meena’s performance and she was found guilty.
But that was not the end!
Meena managed to hold the court hostage!
She made her escape taking Manpreet with her and confessed she had killed their father.
But it turned out loyal Officer Beaker, wasn’t quite so loyal and had failed to help her.
Meena was caught and sentenced to 75 years in prison.
And that was the end of that…
Is Meena returning to Emmerdale for the 50th anniversary?
Paige Sandhu, who plays Meena, spoke to OK! at the British Soap Awards back in June about a possible return.
She revealed: “You know what, never say never, anything goes in Emmerdale, especially for the 50th.
“It’s going to be the biggest and best year yet.
“In the past, historically, Emmerdale has broken other prisoners out of jail so it could happen,” she teased.
“But we’ll see.”
However, Emmerdale bosses have since poured water on the idea.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk recently, Jane Hudson explained: “Once you’ve done a story as big as Meena’s story, you have to know when to bring it to a close.
“I think we played it to its fullest and it was absolutely brilliant, and Paige was absolutely brilliant – and Meena is now behind bars.”
That is so disappointing!
We don’t want it to be true.
Could Jane be planting a red herring?
Is Meena actually on her way back for one final act? As Paige has turned down lots of reality TV offers, fans are convinced it means she is…
When she spoke to Entertainment Daily at the British Soap Awards, Paige teased: “If she did come back, she’d want revenge on not just one person, but the whole village, which would be really cool.”
Yes, it would…
Read more: Emmerdale cast for 2022 – who is in the full line-up?
Who plays Meena? What else has she been in?
Meena is played by actress Paige Sandhu.
According to her IMDb, Emmerdale is Paige’s first TV role.
Paige has teased that she’s filming something else, but we don’t yet know what.
Watch this space…
Emmerdale usually airs weeknights at 7.30pm on ITV.
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