Maria free, says she is innocent

After three years and 40 days in jail, Maria Monica Susairaj — found guilty of destroying evidence in the Neeraj Grover murder case — walked out a free woman on Saturday. Hours later, after a church stopover, she held a press conference where she pleaded innocence and said she’d found God. HT reports. A death and the mystery | What next?

After three years and 40 days in jail, Maria Monica Susairaj — found guilty of destroying evidence in the Neeraj Grover murder case — walked out a free woman on Saturday.

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Hours later, after a church stopover, she held a press conference where she pleaded innocence and said she’d found God. As the Kannada actor declared she would be moving the Bombay high court against her conviction, Grover’s friends gatecrashed the event, shouting “Maria is a killer”.

“I have left my past behind, I have not yet digested the conviction,” Susairaj said. “Being convicted itself is a big stigma.”

Her lawyer, Sharif Shaikh, accused the Mumbai Police of presenting misleading facts about Grover’s body being hacked into 300 pieces.

Presenting photos taken by the police themselves suggesting Grover’s ribcage, skull and legs were intact, he said, “How could they remain intact if the body was hacked into 300 pieces?”

He said his client no longer wanted to work in the film and TV industry.

“She is going to her hometown, where she will be settling down.”

“Now my god and my family will decide for me,” said Susairaj.

Grover’s friends first started a silent protest but finding themselves ignored, they became vocal. On Thursday, a court held Susairaj’s fiancé, Emile Jerome Mathew, guilty of culpable homicide, saying he’d killed Grover in a fit of rage.

On Friday, he was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Susairaj got three years.