Susairaj a free woman, 10-yr jail for boyfriend Jerome

A Mumbai court on Friday sentenced former navy officer Emile Jerome Mathew to 10-year rigorous imprisonment and Kannada actress Maria Monica Susairaj to three years in jail, which she has already served, in the murder case of television executive Neeraj Grover. A death and the mystery | What next

A Mumbai court on Friday sentenced former navy officer Emile Jerome Mathew to 10-year rigorous imprisonment and Kannada actress Maria Monica Susairaj to three years in jail, which she has already served, in the murder case of television executive Neeraj Grover.

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The actor is likely to be released Saturday morning. Additional sessions judge MW Chandwani had on Thursday acquitted the two of the murder charge.

Mathew, 28, was convicted of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and Susairaj, 30, was held guilty of destruction of evidence. “I am blank. How can a person convicted of a crime feel happy about being released?” Maria told HT after the sentencing.

On May 7, 2008, Jerome stabbed Grover in a flat hired by Susairaj in Dheeraj Solitaire building in Malad West. They hacked his body to pieces and disposed the body parts in a forest in adjoining Thane district.

Though the duo was charged with pre-planned murder, conspiracy and destruction of evidence, the trial court held that the media executive’s death was a result of a sudden provocation.

“When he entered the room he was calm. This showed he did not have intention,” Chandwani said while sentencing Jerome. “Obviously for a fiancé, in a situation where he finds a stranger with his partner, would upset a prudent man and he would lose control.”

Jerome will serve seven years as he has remained in jail for more than three years during the trial.