Lawyer: Jail officials tried to kill Jerome

Two days after suspended naval officer Emile Jerome Mathew was booked for assaulting and deterring four jail officers from doing their duty, his lawyer told the sessions court that they “had grievously assaulted him [Mathew] and tried to kill him”.

Two days after suspended naval officer Emile Jerome Mathew was booked for assaulting and deterring four jail officers from doing their duty, his lawyer told the sessions court that they “had grievously assaulted him [Mathew] and tried to kill him”.

HT Image

“An assault on Jerome was with a single intention to kill him,” claimed his lawyer Abdul Wahab Khan.

Mathew is accused of stabbing Synergy Adlabs’ creative director Neeraj Grover to death along with his fiancée, Kannada actress Maria Susairaj, in May 2008. They allegedly cut Grover’s body into pieces, and disposed them in the jungles of Manor.

Mathew, who is lodged in Arthur Road jail, got into a scuffle with the jail officials on Saturday when the warden directed him and other inmates to get into their barracks.

“I moved an application before the court praying it should direct the jail authorities to bring Jerome in court,” Khan said.

The court directed the jail authorities to take Mathew for a medical examination to St George’s Hospital and asked for the report by November 13 to ascertain if he has suffered any injuries.

Earlier, Mathew had threatened to go on a hunger strike alleging violations of the prison rules. He complained that the jail officials were confining him to his cell in the afternoons and giving him less time to meet his family. Mathew also alleged there was a risk to his life as he was shifted to a new barrack.

But the jail authorities said Mathew was shifted because they did not want him to stay with hardened criminals.