Bollywood
This is the story of 26-year-old television executive Neeraj Grover who was brutally murdered in May 2008. For his murder, Kannada actress Maria Susairaj and her boyfriend Lieutenant Emile Jerome Mathew were arrested.
Updated : Aug 21, 2024, 08:18 AM IST | Edited by : Riddhima Kanetkar
The film industry is a beautiful place to be a part of, but it is also one of the most unpredictable and dangerous places. This theory was proved right in 2008 when a cold-blooded murder shook the city of Mumbai. This is the story of 26-year-old television executive Neeraj Grover who was brutally murdered in May 2008. For his murder, Kannada actress Maria Susairaj and her boyfriend Lieutenant Emile Jerome Mathew were arrested.
26-year-old Neeraj Grover suddenly went missing one day while he was helping Kannada actress Maria Susairaj with shifting, but no one saw him after that. Many hours passed, then days, and then weeks, but there was no news of Neeraj.
Finally, the police got information about Neeraj's location from a mobile network tower. That one call exposed the gruesome murder case.
The first arrest in the case was of actress Maria Susairaj, and later some revelations were made that shocked everyone. Neeraj was murdered, the killers had sex in front of his dead body and then a few hours later his body was cut into 300 pieces and dumped off.
Born in a Christian family in Mysore, Maria Monica Susairaj was good at singing and dancing since childhood. Her father worked in a construction firm, while her uncle was a municipal corporation employee. Maria dreamt of becoming an actress while actively participating in the school's cultural programs, but her family was against it. When her family started pressuring her for marriage, Maria left her home in Mysore and settled in Bengaluru.
After doing some small roles, Maria Susairaj got a big break in Kannada cinema in the year 2002. She got work as the lead in the film 'Jute'. She received appreciation for the film, but the film flopped.
Maria Susairaj started getting small roles in a few more films, but she wanted to make a name for herself not in regional cinema but all over India. When she started getting less work in Kannada cinema, she turned to Mumbai.
Maria often used to go to Mumbai for auditions. One day, she met Neeraj Grover during an audition who had good connections in Mumbai. In the year 2008, he was working with Ekta Kapoor's popular production house Balaji Telefilms.
After meeting during the audition, Neeraj and Maria exchanged numbers and started talking.
After listening to Maria, Neeraj assured her of help and arranged her audition at Balaji Telefilms. She used to come to Mumbai often for these auditions. With time, Maria started getting closer to Neeraj, although she was already in a long-distance relationship with Jerome Mathew, a resident of Mysore, to whom she was also about to get engaged. Jerome was in the Indian Army and was posted in Pune at that time.
Maria, who dreamed of becoming a big heroine and getting work, did not think it necessary to tell Neeraj that she was already in a relationship. With time, the two grew closer and one day Maria decided to shift to Mumbai. When Maria reached Mumbai, Neeraj gave her a place in his house.
It had been many months since they had been friends, but Maria was not getting any work from Neeraj. Neeraj had told his friends that Maria's auditions were getting rejected because of her Kannada accent, but to avoid hurting Maria, he would often make new excuses for not getting work.
Meanwhile, whenever Maria spoke to her boyfriend Jerome Mathew, whenever Neeraj was mentioned, she would just say that Neeraj loved her one-sidedly and that she considered him a friend. However, this was a false story.
After being in a live-in relationship with Neeraj for about a week, Maria rented flat number 201 of Dheeraj Solitaire Apartment in Malad.
Maria had to leave Neeraj's flat and shift to a flat in Malad. After Maria left, Neeraj told his friends that he was going to help Maria in shifting. He left the house at around 10 pm.
The next morning, Neeraj's friend called his number, and Maria received the call. Maria told his friend Lal that Neeraj had left the house at 1:30 in the night and had left his phone in her flat. A few more hours passed, but Neeraj neither came to the flat nor came to pick up the phone. When Neeraj could not be contacted, his family and work colleagues were calling his friend Lal, but he had no information.
Finally, Lal reached Maria's flat on the evening of May 8. When he asked Maria who she had gone out with, she could not give any answer. After much thought, both of them finally complained to the Malad Police Station.
The police seized Neeraj's phone and started looking for him. His close friends were questioned in the matter, but no information could be found.
The police started investigating Maria without suspecting her. When Maria's call records were retrieved, the results were shocking. From May 8 to May 20, there were 1,000 calls between Maria and her boyfriend Jerome Mathew. This was not a normal thing. The call records and Jerome being in Mumbai that night further strengthened the police's suspicion of Maria.
In this connection, Maria and her boyfriend Jerome Mathew were called for questioning. When the security guard of Maria's building was questioned, he made a shocking revelation.
The security guard told them that on the evening of May 8, Maria and her boyfriend Matthew were seen carrying some heavy items in bags. This turned the police's suspicion into certainty. After collecting evidence, the police first arrested Maria.
Maria kept changing her statements, but when strictness was exercised, she broke down. Everyone was shocked to hear the revelations made by Maria.
Maria confessed that Neeraj Grover was murdered on May 8. Maria had called Neeraj on May 7 to help her with shifting. Both were spending quality time at home when Maria's boyfriend Jerome Mathew called. When Mathew heard Neeraj's voice coming from behind on the call, he got angry because he felt that Neeraj's intentions were not good for Maria. Seeing Jerome Mathew getting angry, Maria explained to him that he had come to help only as a friend. She would send him away after dinner. In response, Jerome said that it would not be good if Neeraj stayed with them.
The next day, on May 8, the doorbell of Maria's flat was ringing. When Maria did not reach the door for a few seconds, the doorbell started ringing again and again. When she opened the door in a hurry, she saw Jerome standing at the door. Maria got scared of seeing him because Neeraj was at her house at that time. Jerome entered the flat. Maria stopped him from going into the bedroom, but Jerome pushed her. As soon as Jerome entered the room, he saw that Neeraj was on her bed. On seeing this, he started beating Neeraj.
Maria tried to stop them but failed. During the fight, Jerome brought a knife from the kitchen with which he stabbed Neeraj several times. Jerome's clothes were soaked in blood, there were blood splatters all over the room and Neeraj was slowly dying. As soon as Neeraj died, Maria immediately started cleaning the room. She cleaned the blood, changed the bedsheets and curtains, and completely cleaned the blood from the dead body. Neeraj's dead body remained in their room for a few hours. During this time, Maria and Jerome had physical relations several times in the same room where the dead body was.
After some time, both of them went to a nearby shopping mall where they purchased polybags and sharp knives.
After returning home, both of them together cut the body into 300 pieces. They bought petrol on the way and after finding a deserted place, they filled petrol in a bag and set it on fire. When both of them went out to dispose of the body parts, Neeraj's phone was in Maria's jeans pocket. Neeraj's phone rang on the way, so Maria took the phone out of her pocket to see the number, at that time she received the call by mistake. That one call proved to be an important link in this murder case.
Maria Monica Susairaj was found not guilty of the killing, but guilty of destroying evidence and was sentenced to a maximum of three years' imprisonment. She was released the following day with time served.
Jerome Mathew was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the killing and 3 years for destroying evidence. The sentences will be served concurrently, with 3 years served already applied.