In November 2020, Meena begins pursuing David Metcalfe (Matthew Wolfenden). Thinking that "David could be the man for her", she asks him on a date to which he accepts; however, he stands her up and texts her saying that he cannot come. Annoyed by David's rejection, she heads to his shop to confront him. Meena later learns that Manpreet was responsible for David standing her up, since her sister had advised David against dating her. Meena reacts by making a "shocking move" in order to win both Manpreet and David over. Meena purposely changes the direction of Rishi's Sat Nav, as well as taking his medication from the car and hiding Manpreet's phone. She pretends to come across Rishi in the direction she sent him and acts as though she has saved him. When Manpreet does not know how to thank Meena for saving Rishi's life, she suggests that Manpreet should talk to David about her again, in order to persuade him to give their relationship another chance. Speaking on Meena's actions, Sandhu guessed that the audience will not like Meena anymore since her character is "trying to steer the situation so that it comes out with her in the best possible position". She added that in Meena's position, her plan has succeeded since she has become a saviour in Manpreet's perspective. After Meena has won David back, Sandhu confirmed that viewers would continue to see more of Meena's dark side. She also warned viewers that her character has no limits as to how far she will go to get what she wants and confessed that she loves playing the new baddie of Emmerdale. Digital Spy then wrote in December 2020 that the soap were setting up a "dark direction" for Meena.
