[4][5] In the storyline, Dev goes to India to be with his family after his aunt Gita has a fall, and his partner Bernie Winter (Jane Hazlegrove) offers to go with him, although it was hinted that she may not.

[6][7] On 12 February 2001, it was announced that Coronation Street would introduce a new Asian character named Sunita Parekh played by Shobna Gulati.

[8] Coronation Street producer Kim Crowther first hinted at a possible return for Sunita in an interview with entertainment website Digital Spy the previous week.

His other girlfriends include: cruise ship hairdresser Debs Brownlow (Gabrielle Glaister), and Tracy Barlow (Kate Ford), who wrecks his flat after discovering he has no intention of marrying her.

Dev later meets solicitor Maya Sharma (Sasha Behar), while on the rebound from Sunita, who chooses barman Ciaran McCarthy (Keith Duffy) over him.

He allows Maya to move in and she makes friends with Frankie Baldwin (Debra Stephenson), but gets jealous of the amount of time Dev and Sunita are spending together and forces him to choose.

This enrages Maya so she smashes up his flat and frames Sunita for an illegal immigration scam so she is arrested on her and Dev's wedding day.

At first, Dev insists that she go with her mother, bitter about the part Amber played in his marriage breaking down, but eventually he thaws and allows her to stay living with him permanently.

In summer 2008, Dev is upset after conversations with Tony Gordon (Gray O'Brien) and Norris Cole (Malcolm Hebden) make him realise that he is just a simple man running a chain of corner shops.

[10][11] In August 2008, Dev buys a flat at the newly finished Victoria Court and becomes increasingly unhappy with his affair with Nina when he realises that she has been cheating on Prem for years.

Dev, sick of Nina's threats, tells Prem himself, who is disgusted but Tara has taken quite a shine to him and tries to discourage her but she interprets his actions as honourable.

Dev's uncle, Umed Alahan (Harish Patel), arrives for a visit in March 2009 and begins helping out in the Corner Shop.

Dev begins charming his instructor, Bernie Sayers (Jennifer Hennessy), although he notices her strange behaviour around Steve and she admits that she is also teaching him.

Dev and Bernie have a brief relationship, but she ends it when she realises that he really wants Sunita and his children back, after learning that she has a new partner, Matt, and that they're engaged.

Realising that they are meant to be together, Dev and Sunita agree to give their relationship another chance and buy 7 Coronation Street from the widowed single mother, Maria Connor.

In December 2010, after the tram crash Becky McDonald (Katherine Kelly) steals money from the Corner Shop's safe whilst Dev is in hospital after Sunita was injured.

Dev admits that the Corner Shop was not insured and he has not paid the mortgage on the house either so Sunita asks to see the business accounts.

Sunita and Dev argue about their finances again in January 2012 when he buys Amber a car for her 21st birthday, leading Sunita (now feeling taken for granted) to have an affair with Rovers barman, Karl Munro (John Michie) and they are eventually caught together by Karl's fiancée, Stella Price (Michelle Collins), and her daughters Eva Price (Catherine Tyldesley) and Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson).

Although devastated and heartbroken by Sunita's infidelity, Dev is willing to give her another chance, but she asks him to leave so he attacks Karl, trashes the shop and nearly drinks himself to death but Lloyd finds him and stops him from doing so.

Meanwhile, Jason takes Craig, Beth Tinker (Lisa George) and Kirk Sutherland (Andrew Whyment) to the police station to get Karl arrested for killing Sunita and Toni Griffiths (Tara Moran), the firefighter who was crushed in the inferno.

Kal also begins training with Nick Tilsley (Ben Price), who is still suffering mentally after being involved in a car crash with his brother.

They both return to Dev's flat, unaware that Kal, Lloyd Mullaney (Craig Charles), Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) and Andrea Beckett (Hayley Tamaddon) are hiding behind his sofa to surprise him.