Grover murder: Jerome won’t be tried separately,says court

Following arguments on Tuesday in the Neeraj Grover murder case,the sessions court decided that a single case would be executed against Maria Susairaj and her Naval officer boyfriend Emile Jerome. The court on Tuesday ordered that both the accused would be tried in the same court and that Jerome’s case did not fall in the purview of Court Martial Rules. Susairaj and Jerome have been charged with murdering Synergy Adlabs creative head,Neeraj Grover,last year and have been in custody since their arrest.

Last month,Sessions Judge CA Jadhav had raised a doubt if Jerome was an on-duty officer and had committed the crime while on duty. The prosecution was asked to file a detailed reply if the case fell in the purview of Court Martial Rules and if he was required to be tried separately according to the special provisions available under Section 475 of the Criminal Procedure Code. 

Both defence and prosecution opposed any move to send Jerome’s case to special magistrate court claiming it will unnecessarily delay the trial. Also,the murder trial has begun in a sessions court and the judge had heard testimonies of a few witnesses,including Grover’s father.

“Court observed that Jerome was not a serving officer at the time of offence and he will be treated as a ‘civilian’ and would be tried under the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” said Defence lawyer Abdul Wahab Khan.