Neeraj Grover trial: ATS chief testifies

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Rakesh Maria on Tuesday testified before a sessions court in media executive Neeraj Grover murder trial.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Rakesh Maria on Tuesday testified before a sessions court in media executive Neeraj Grover murder trial.

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The police said Kannada actor Maria Susairaj and her naval officer fiancé Emile Jerome Mathew allegedly murdered Grover by stabbing him at her house in Malad on May 7, 2008. Later, they allegedly cut the body into pieces with a kitchen knife and disposed it of in the jungles of Manor.

The senior IPS officer, who headed the Mumbai police crime branch when the case was being investigated by it, told the trial court that he had briefed the media about the breakthrough in the murder case on the basis of information passed on to him by assistant police inspector Sunil Ghosalkar of Bandra unit of the crime branch.

He added that the assistant police inspector was coordinating with the crime branch and the Malad police station, where an FIR was registered. He said all the information revealed by him during the press conference was correct to his knowledge.
During his examination-in-chief, defence advocate Wahab Khan asked Maria if he had ever noticed wrong reporting of his briefing, and if he had sought clarification from the newspaper concerned.
Maria replied that the police officer would stand to waste his entire career if he ever runs after news reports and seek clarification after noticing wrong reporting.