Neeraj Grovers father was composed when he began his testimony on Friday,recounting how his son would call him every day and broke the routine only the day he was murdered. But when he was asked to identify his sons belongings,Amarnath Grover could no longer hold back his emotions. Please,if I dont recognise my kids belongings,who would? he said,looking at a pendant shown to him. I had gifted a pendant to my son last Holi when he had been to our home in Kanpur. This pendant and the chain are definitely his. Amarnath lives in Kanpur with his wife and a daughter. His was the first testimony recorded in the murder trial. Neeraj Grover,an executive producer with a TV production house,had been stabbed and his body cut into several pieces on May 7,allegedly by Kannada actress Maria Susairaj and her naval officer boyfriend Emile Jerome Mathew. The body was then burned in the Manor jungles on the outskirts of the city. Since Neeraj had moved to Mumbai,the calls to his father had been routine. We would call up each other in the morning and before bedtime. When Neeraj broke the routine for the first time,it upset me, said Amarnath. Amarnath could not spell out when the news of Neerajs death was broken to him. We were and still are in a very traumatic state of mind. I cant recollect which day the police summoned us to the Malad police station and finally told us my son had been killed. He had rushed to Mumbai the day after the calls stopped coming,but does not wish to travel any more. Its very agonising to come to Mumbai. Please spare me this travelling, he said. Amarnath looked tired by the continuous grilling by the prosecutor and the defence lawyer. After a point,he just nodded his head to all the questions posed. Additional sessions judge C A Jadhav summoned three witnesses on May 5: Neerajs cousin and roommate Nishanth Grover,Susairajs neighbour Mayuri who had last seen Susairaj and Neeraj together,and Nishant Lal,a friend of Neeraj.
