Maya Sharma Maya Sharma was employed by Mellor Broadbent Solicitors and originally advised Roy and Hayley Cropper about the matters of Amy Barlow . She fell for Dev Alahan , who seemed to take an immediate liking to her . Despite striking up a friendship with Frankie Baldwin , very quickly it appeared that there was another side to her - she starting off stealing vases and then kidnapped Tyrone Dobbs ' s pet dog , Monica . She then left a restaurant without paying and drove erratically along country lanes and threatened not to stop the car unless Dev proposed to her . At their engagement party , Tyrone tried to ruin the event by telling everyone that she killed his dog and he compared her to Cruella De Vil , but she refuted this . Dev rekindled his love for ex - girlfriend Sunita Parekh when he discovered that she had a brain tumour . Even Maya had pity , and then decided to capitalise on the situation by playing the caring friend and telling Sunita that she might be putting pressure on Dev . When Dev announced his love for Sunita , Maya trashed his flat . Sunita recovered and Dev dumped Maya and started dating Sunita . At Dev and Sunita ' s engagement party , Maya wrecked Sunita ' s white suit by purposely spilling red wine on it . Prior to this , she had married several illegal immigrants with Sunita ' s birth certificate . When it came to Dev and Sunita ' s wedding , they were both arrested for illegal marriage . Dev was released with no charge , however Sunita was held on remand at Redford Prison and rejected Dev ' s visits - resigning herself to her fate at the hands of Maya . Dev was determined to have his new bride freed and confronted Maya on her doorstep as she was about to leave the country after being tipped off by Frankie Baldwin who had since come round to Dev ' s way of thinking . The police arrived and arrested Maya for assisting illegal immigration and bigamy . Maya ' s luck ran out when Walid Aziz , one of the Indian men that she had married was also arrested on another charge and while at Weatherfield Police Station , identified her as his wife . All of this seemed to be over for Sunita and Dev but Maya was later released on bail . She then spent her time plotting revenge - intending to burn down all of Dev ' s seven shops . She then entered the Corner Shop flat , took Sunita hostage and phoned Dev . Soon Dev arrived but Maya was gone and had left a message in lipstick on the table . He was ordered to the Corner Shop , which was Dev ' s only property that had not been destroyed . When he arrived and saw a bound and gagged Sunita , he proceeded to tell her that everything would be okay but then Maya knocked him out and tied him up . When he woke up they talked about how he dumped her and how upset she was . Later when PC Glaister showed up at the door , Dev screamed to attract his attention but Maya gagged him to muffle his cries for help . She told the police that she was Sunita and while she was distracted , Dev got a knife and cut his legs free . When Maya returned she switched on the gas rings of the stove without lighting them . As she left the kitchen she told Dev that if he believed in reincarnation maybe next time he would come back as something better and then went to start a fire in the shop below leaving Dev and Sunita bound and gagged . As they returned from a night ' s clubbing , Jamie Baldwin and Leanne Battersby noticed a fire in the shop and Rita Sullivan called the fire brigade . Dev broke the window with the curtain rail and attracted the attention of the Street ' s residents . Ciaran McCarthy and Charlie Stubbs came to the rescue . Dev was rescued by Ciaran and carried down on his shoulder just before the Corner Shop exploded . The residents were in shock to see Dev bound and gagged and had no idea what was going on . Sunita was saved by Charlie and appeared shortly afterwards . Maya realised that her plan had failed as she sat watching from her car at the other end of the Street and then tried to run them down in a fit of rage , but missed and crashed into the viaduct . However , she arose covered in blood and started up her car again . Fortunately for the residents of the street , a lorry crashed into the back of her car as she reversed it to back out . Maya survived and was sent to Weatherfield General . When Sunita learned this she left the hospital immediately . Friend Shelley Unwin mentioned that Maya was on life support and her hospital room was under police guard . After coming out of intensive care , Maya was sent back to prison to await trial .