TV executive murder: Kannada actress Maria Susairaj held guilty of destroying evidence

The quantum of sentence will be pronounced tomorrow.

Sessions Court judge N W Chandwani,while delivering the verdict,held that Jerome had acted on the spur of the moment and that the killing was not premeditated.

“When he entered the room he was calm. This showed he did not have the intention (to murder). Obviously for a fiance,in a situation where he finds a stranger with his partner,would upset a prudent man and he would lose control,” the judge remarked.

The court accepted the confession of Maria which she said was voluntary and connected Jerome with the killing of Grover.

According to the prosecution,Jerome had gone to Maria’s residence in suburban Malad on May 7,2008 where he got into a fight with Grover,26,during which the naval officer stabbed the victim to death. Susairaj and Jerome later cut the body into pieces and disposed it of in Manor forest in neighbouring Thane.

Both accused had been charged with murder,criminal conspiracy,common intent and causing disappearance of evidence.

The court did not accept the prosecution’s case that Jerome had come to Mumbai from Kochi to kill Grover and also that there was a conspiracy to murder him.

Public prosecutor R V Kini said the court had accepted that part of Maria’s confession which described what transpired in her house when Grover was killed because there were no eyewitnesses present.

Grover was the brain behind the quiz show ‘Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain?’ hosted by Shah Rukh Khan.

Her lawyer Sharif Shaikh said Maria was found guilty under Section 201 IPC for which maximum punishment was three years imprisonment,which she had already undergone during the trial.

He sought bail for her today,but the court kept the matter for tomorrow for pronouncing sentence.

Grover’s parents voiced their disappointment over the verdict. His mother,Neelam,told PTI over telephone that Maria,who had called Jerome to her home leading to Grover’s killing,was the main culprit. “Maria should not have been absolved of the murder charge,” she said.

Grover’s father Amarnath said he was unhappy and the judgement was disappointing for them.

Describing Maria as “a victim of circumstances”,her lawyer said she came to Mumbai on May 1,2008,just a few days before Grover’s murder,and in such a short span of time she could not have sought favours from him for a role in TV serial as had been alleged by the prosecution.

Grover’s murder was the most brutal that Mumbai had seen in sometime. He was killed on at Maria’s apartment in Malad,his body chopped to pieces,carried in two plastic bags and dumped in the jungles in the outskirts of Thane,where the pieces were then burnt.

The prosecution had argued Mathew killed Grover after finding him in Maria’s apartment.

The watchman,the court was told,had seen both Maria and Jerome carry two big bags to their car that night.

The couple then hired a painter to give a fresh coat to the walls that bore bloody evidence of the crime.

Maria Susairaj had said she was coerced and intimidated to play along with Jerome’s plan.

According to the prosecution,Maria arrived in Mumbai from Bangalore to try her luck in the entertainment industry and came in contact with Grover,who was at that time working with a production house and had promised to give her a

break.

Prosecutor R V Kini examined 48 witnesses including friends of the victim and accused,the watchman of the building who had seen Jerome,and the person who sold the knife to them.

The prosecution also examined the man who had painted the house after the murder to wipe off blood stains,besides the owner of the Santro Car used to dispose of Grover’s body.

Maria’s lawyer Sherif Sheikh argued she was not in the apartment when Grover was murdered and that she had met the deceased only three days before his death.

Denying she had any physical relationship with Grover,her counsel even claimed the starlet was still a ‘virgin’ and that the police should have ascertained that by medically examining her.

Maria told court the police had detained her brother and sister to force her to make a confession.

Jerome’s advocate Wahab Khan argued that prosecution had failed to prove that Grover was still alive when the navy officer arrived at Maria’s residence.

Khan argued the onus was on the prosecution to show what had transpired between 11.30 pm on May 6 and 7:30 am on May 7,2008,the day of the murder.

Jerome told court he was not aware where Grover worked and whether he had promised Maria a role in television. The naval officer also told the court that he had come to Mumbai from Kochi on May 7 as Maria was in depression.

The trial,which was held on a daily basis,concluded last week and the dictation of the judgement began on Monday. The defence also examined top cop Rakesh Maria as witness to show that evidence had been planted.