Neeraj Grover murder case

2022-05-17T13:48:40Z

2405:204:3027:C09:E286:2856:84C7:E9FD:

{{short description|TV Executive Murder}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Neeraj Grover
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang = Hindi
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1982|02|23}}
| birth_place = Kishni
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2008|05|07|1982|02|23}}
| death_place = [[Bombay]]
| death_cause = [[Homicide]]
| body_discovered = Amgaon village in [[Manor, Maharashtra]]
| resting_place = [[Mumbai]]
| resting_place_coordinates = 
| monuments =
| other_names =
| citizenship = India
| education = Degree in Mass Communication
| alma_mater =
| occupation = TVexecutive
| years_active =
| employer = Synergy Adlabs
| agent =
| notable_works = [[Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?]]
| style =
| parents = Amarnath Grover and Neelam Grover
}}

'''Neeraj Grover''' was a television executive working for Synergy Adlabs, a [[Mumbai]] based production house.<ref name="Missing">{{cite news|url=http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/associate-creative-head-of-synergy-adlabs-goes-missing/307737/|title=Associate creative head of Synergy Adlabs goes missing|date=10 May 2008|work=Expressindia|publisher=The Indian Express Limited|accessdate=18 July 2011|location=[[Mumbai]]}}</ref> He was found dead in May 2008, a crime for which actress Maria Susairaj and her boyfriend Lieutenant Emile Jerome Mathew were arrested.<ref name="Arrested">{{cite news|url=http://www.parinda.com/news/crime/20080521/4036/neeraj-grover-creative-head-synergy-adlabs-found-murdered-starlet-m|title=Neeraj Grover – creative head of Synergy Adlabs found murdered – starlet Maria and boyfriend arrested|last=IANS|date=22 May 2008|work=Parinda.com|publisher=VMC Infotech|accessdate=18 July 2011|location=Mumbai}}</ref> Mathew was eventually found guilty of [[Culpable homicide#India|culpable homicide not amounting to murder]] and for [[destruction of evidence|destroying evidence]]. Susairaj was acquitted of the killing itself, but found guilty of destroying evidence.<ref name="Judgement">{{cite news|url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/neeraj-grover-sentence-10-years-for-jerome-3-for-maria-116113|title=Neeraj Grover sentence: Maria will leave jail, 7 more years for Jerome|date=1 July 2011|work=NDTV.com|accessdate=18 July 2011|location=Mumbai}}</ref> The killing and subsequent trial received significant press coverage in [[India]].

==Background==
Maria Susairaj was a new and small-time [[South Indian film industry|South Indian film]] actress and Lieutenant Emil Jerome Mathew was her boyfriend. Both were said to be getting engaged two months later. Neeraj Grover was helping Susairaj to establish a foothold in the television industry and had also arranged few auditions for her. Susairaj had once told Mathew that Grover had a crush on her but she did not reciprocate. She had reportedly also stayed at Grover's apartment for a few days. At the time of the incident, Susairaj was moving into her new rented apartment and Grover was helping her with the move.<ref name="How" />

On 6 May 2008, Grover reportedly went to meet Susairaj and was never found again. When his friends and family could not trace him for over 24 hours, his family filed a missing person's report. Grover's family told police that they suspected the involvement of his female friend in his disappearance.<ref name="Missing" />

Susairaj, when questioned by police claimed that though Grover had met her on Tuesday night, he left at 12 A.M. to meet some friends for a party in [[Andheri]]. As per various media reports, and as stated by the police, Susairaj continued fabricating stories for 10 days, until she eventually told the police that Mathew had killed Grover in her presence.<ref name="10 days">{{cite web|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_for-10-days-she-kept-fabricating-stories_1166062|title=For 10 days, she kept fabricating stories|date=23 May 2008|work=Daily News & Analysis|publisher=Diligent Media Corporation|accessdate=19 July 2011|location=[[Mumbai]]}}</ref>

==Killing and immediate aftermath==
Grover visited Susairaj's [[Malad]] apartment Dhiraj Solitaire at 22:00 on 6 May to help her settle in. At the same time, Mathew called her up and got upset to hear a male voice in background. When Susairaj told Mathew that Grover had come over to help her, Jerome asked Maria not to allow Neeraj to stay overnight. Mathew at that time was living in [[Kochi]]. However, he took a flight and came to [[Mumbai]] the next day without telling Susairaj. He reached her apartment at 07:30. Susairaj opened the door and Mathew went straight into the bedroom to find Grover in the room. As per media and police reports, the two men had argument and then engaged in a physical fight. Mathew grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed Grover, who died on the spot.<ref name="How" />

On 25 May, the crime branch recovered a nine-inch knife from Susairaj's apartment complex. Police believed that the knife was used to kill Grover.<ref name="Phone Call" />

Around 11:00 am the same day, Susairaj went to a nearby mall and purchased bags, air freshener, curtains, bed sheets & knife. She later told police that she did this on Jerome's instructions.<ref name="How" />

They both then took the dead body to the kitchen and chopped it into several pieces,<ref name="AA">{{cite news|url=http://www.asianage.com/india/susairaj-will-move-hc-grover-s-friends-furious-855|title=Susairaj will move HC, Grover's friends furious|last=Vora|first=Jinga|date=3 July 2011|work=The Asian Age|accessdate=19 July 2011|location=[[Mumbai]]}}</ref> stuffing them into the bags Susairaj had earlier bought. While many media outlets reported that Grover's body had been chopped into 300 pieces, the judge in the case would later state that this was "...far from the facts on record", and that such a description had caused "confusion" and had "outraged the general public".<ref name="Feeble">{{cite news|url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-12/mumbai/29764571_1_emile-jerome-synergy-adlabs-maria-susairaj/2|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120913043440/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-07-12/mumbai/29764571_1_emile-jerome-synergy-adlabs-maria-susairaj/2|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 September 2012|title=Maria too 'feeble' to kill: Judge|last=Samervel|first=Rebecca|date=12 July 2011|pages=2|accessdate=19 July 2011|work=[[The Times of India]]|location=[[Mumbai]]}}</ref>

Susairaj borrowed a car from her friend and dumped the bags in the vehicle's boot whilst the building security guard watched them load the car. At 16:30 the same day, they drove towards [[Manor, Maharashtra|Manor]] after buying two bottles of Petrol at [[Bhayander]]. They soaked the bags in petrol and set it on fire in a jungle near Amgaon village in [[Manor, Maharashtra|Manor]]. After burning the dead body, they returned to [[Mumbai]] the same night at 21:30.<ref name="How" />

==Leads to prime suspects==
Some circumstances leading police to arrest Mathew and Susairaj included the following:

===Accidentally answering a call===
Maria Susairaj, along with Jerome Mathew, on her way to [[Manor, Maharashtra|Manor]] in a friend's borrowed car (to dispose of Grover's body) accidentally answered a call on Grover's mobile while she was pulling it out of her denim pocket to see who the caller was. She had kept Grover's mobile with her after the murder. Although she immediately disconnected the call, police were able to trace the location at which the call was answered. This turned out to be a key lead for police as Susairaj, during questioning before her arrest, had told the police that she was shopping in [[Dadar]] when she was actually on her way to Manor.<ref name="Phone Call">{{cite news|url=http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=47254&n_tit=Maria+Nailed+after+Answering+Grover%27s+Phone+Call|title=Maria Nailed after Answering Grover's Phone Call|date=3 June 2008|work=Times of India (as reprinted on daijiworld.com)|accessdate=19 July 2011}}</ref>

===Lying about borrowed car===
Susairaj had initially told police that she borrowed a Santro car from Mathew's friend "Jitesh" for going out shopping. Jitesh was a [[Colaba]]-based Naval Officer and was at sea at the time of the incident. Susairaj requested Jitesh to stand by her if the police questioned him. It was stated that Jitesh refused to lie as his travel records would prove otherwise. Susairaj then admitted to the police that she lied for personal reasons and it was then she revealed the true name of the car owner: Kiran Shreyas. Shreyas told the police that Susairaj had borrowed the car saying she wanted to go to Dadar for shopping with Mathew<ref name="Phone Call" />

Police later brought the car, car owner & witnesses to the police station where Susairaj broke down and gave her version of the crime, up to and including the disposal of the body.<ref name="Phone Call" />

===Answering a friend's call===
One of Grover's friends called up on his mobile and Susairaj answered the call. She mumbled that Neeraj had "gone out" forgetting his cell phone with her. The friend later came and picked up the cell phone a couple of days later. This act of Susairaj also made her a prime suspect.<ref name="Arrested" />

===1,000 calls in 13 Days===
Crime branch found out that Mathew had called Susairaj nearly 1,000 times between 7 and 20 May 2008. The Crime Branch got suspicious and questioned Susairaj.<ref name="How">{{cite news|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_how-was-neeraj-grover-killed_1167161|title=How was Neeraj Grover killed?|last=Sharma|first=Somendra|date=29 May 2008|work=Daily News & Analysis|publisher=Diligent Media Corporation|accessdate=19 July 2011|location=[[Mumbai]]}}</ref>

==Investigation Lapses==

===Weapon===
The knife, which was thrown into a garbage chute, was not recovered for several days despite police searching the house several times. However, they had earlier sent a couple of seized knives for forensic tests to look for DNA samples. The tests turned out to be negative.<ref name="Phone Call" />

===Naval Training===
On 8 May 2008, Mathew was called for questioning by the [[Malad]] police. He told them he had come to [[Mumbai]] for a Naval training session. The police did not verify his claim with the naval authorities.<ref name="How" />

===Bloodstains ignored===
Mathew and Susairaj had repainted a wall to hide the bloodstains. [[Malad]] police did not ask them why one wall was coloured differently from the rest.<ref name="How" />

==The verdict==
Maria Monica Susairaj was found not guilty of the killing, but guilty of [[destruction of evidence|destroying evidence]] and was sentenced to a maximum three years' imprisonment. She was released the following day with [[time served]].<ref name="Sentence">{{cite news|url=http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/neeraj-grover-sentence-10-years-for-jerome-3-for-maria-116113|title=Neeraj Grover sentence: Maria will leave jail, 7 more years for Jerome|date=1 July 2011|work=NDTV.com|accessdate=19 July 2011|location=[[Mumbai]]}}</ref>

Jerome Mathew was found guilty of [[Culpable homicide#India|culpable homicide not amounting murder]] and of destroying evidence. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the killing, and 3 years for destroying evidence. The sentences will be served [[Sentence (law)|concurrently]], with 3 years [[time served]] already applied.<ref name="Sentence" />

The court has also fined Susairaj and Mathew {{INR}}50,000, to be paid to Neeraj Grover's family.<ref name="Judgement" />

==Aftermath==
Various outlets of the national press of India reported public outrage on what was considered a light verdict given the accused had chopped the body into hundreds of pieces after murder.<ref name="Press">{{cite news|url=http://www.sify.com/news/neeraj-grover-case-should-journalists-turn-judges-news-columns-lhgmypgiddf.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709130210/http://www.sify.com/news/neeraj-grover-case-should-journalists-turn-judges-news-columns-lhgmypgiddf.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 July 2011|title=Neeraj Grover case: Should journalists turn judges?|last=Saxena|first=Sunil|date=6 July 2011|work=sify news|accessdate=19 July 2011}}</ref> In<ref name="Lynching">{{cite news|url=http://www.in.com/news/entertainment/fullstory-the-grover-murder-verdict-the-lynching-of-maria-susairaj-19595677-in-1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325154448/http://www.in.com/news/entertainment/fullstory-the-grover-murder-verdict-the-lynching-of-maria-susairaj-19595677-in-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 March 2012|title=The Grover murder verdict: the lynching of Maria Susairaj|last=Chaudhry|first=Lakshmi|date=1 July 2011|work=Firstpost.com|accessdate=19 July 2011}}</ref> News channel NDTV decried the defamation of the accused, claiming they were under lot of stress. The national news outlets wrote particularly scathing indictments of the actress following the verdict. ''Times Now'' called her the "Lady Macbeth of the Grover case ... (who) has gone an extreme length to feed her ambition even if it means putting her jilted lover in the dock and moreover taking the life of an innocent."<ref name="Macabre">{{cite news|url=http://www.timesnow.tv/Neeraj-Grover-caseIndias-most-macabre-murder/articleshow/4377413.cms|title=Neeraj Grover case:India's most macabre murder|work=Times Now|accessdate=19 July 2011}}</ref> Attorneys for both the convicted parties as well as the prosecution announced their intentions to file appeals.<ref name="Hindu">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2151334.ece|title=None happy with Grover case verdict|date=2 July 2011|work=The Hindu|accessdate=19 July 2011|location=[[Mumbai]]}}</ref>

==Depiction in film==
''[[Not a Love Story (2011 film)|Not a Love Story]]'', with different names for actual people.

==See also==
*[[Adnan Patrawala Murder Case]]
*[[Auto Shankar]]
*[[Charles Shobraj]]
*[[Geeta and Sanjay Chopra kidnapping case]]
*[[Joshi-Abhyankar serial murders]]
*[[Murder of Jessica Lal]]
*[[Nirupama Pathak death case]]
*[[Nitish Katara murder case]]
*[[Noida double murder case]]
*[[Noida serial murders]]
*[[Raman Raghav]]
*[[Schizophrenia]]
*[[Serial killer]]
*[[Murder of Snehal Gaware]]
*[[Stoneman]]
*[[Law of India]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grover, Neeraj}}
[[Category:2008 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian television people]]
[[Category:Indian murder victims]]
[[Category:Mass media-related controversies in India]]
[[Category:Trials in India]]
[[Category:People murdered in India]]
[[Category:1982 births]]
[[Category:Crime in Mumbai]]

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Neeraj Grover murder case