An intimidated Maria Susairaj looked on as some protesters tried to hijack her press conference, shouting slogans against her and demanding justice for Neeraj Grover, a TV executive who was killed by her former fiancé Emile Jerome and whose body was disposed of by Maria and Emile, as revealed by a recent court judgment. The sessions court convicted Jerome of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and Maria of destruction of evidence.
Maria was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by the court. It was barely six hours after she was released from the Byculla prison here on Saturday afternoon at around 12.45 p.m. that she arrived for the press conference. She had been hounded by the media for nearly every minute after her release. Her lawyer would later say, “It was harassment by the media.”
Questions galore
From questions about why there were tears in her eyes when she visited the Mahim church in the afternoon, to the current status of relationship between Maria and Jerome, the reporters wanted Maria to answer everything. She refused. Her lawyer said she would not talk about anything related to the case.
“All I know is I am innocent. Yet I have been convicted. I don't want to say anything,” she finally said after gathering herself, her brother standing by her, as he has been through the past three years.
It was high-tension drama lasting more than an hour at the Press Club. Soon after Maria's lawyer Sharif Sheikh started addressing the press conference, Neeraj Grover's friends led by film-maker Ashok Pandit barged in, holding placards in their hands, protesting against the judgment. The conference turned unruly and chaotic as the protesters tried to disrupt it. A scuffle followed between some mediapersons and the protesters.
The press meet remained chaotic for the rest of the period and most of Maria's words sunk in the cacophony of questions and slogans.
Maria looked tense and avoided eye-contact through most of the period. She kept saying she had still not been able to come to terms with the fact that she had been convicted. “It is my God who has got me out. I have reconciled with my God. That is enough,” she said.
“I have left my past behind. But I am still not able to digest the fact that I have been convicted. It is a big stigma on my life,” Maria said.
“I have been close to God through all these years. It was my duty to visit and thank the One because of whom I am out today,” she said while talking about her visit to Mahim church.
“There were tears in my eyes because I am still not able to digest this. I have not faced so many people [in the jail] for the past three years,” she said, pointing to the overwhelming media presence. “You have to understand, it is not easy for someone to face so many people and be cool.”
She said the period she spent in jail took her closer to God. “I felt blessed as I got closer to God. I did a lot of painting, prayer meet,” she said.
When pestered to talk about her feelings towards the Grover family, she said: “I definitely sympathise [with them]. Losing someone in the family is not easy. The whole scenario is very sad. But I know I am innocent.”
Considering that film-maker Ram Gopal Verma recently talked of working with her, she was asked if she would work in any serials or movies. “I haven't thought of the future yet. I have nothing to decide for myself. It is for God and my family [to decide for me],” she said. Her lawyer quickly added that she would go back to her hometown Mysore and not work in TV serials or movies.
Asked if she was still close to Jerome, she replied in the negative. She hadn't talked to him for quite some time now and they were not even friends anymore. She refused to say anything about Neeraj or Jerome.
Her lawyer said that they disagreed with the judgment of conviction and would challenge it in the High Court. He said the press conference was called to put across to people the basis of the prosecution's case and to rectify the “false information given by the media for three years.”
‘Body not chopped'
Mr. Sheikh produced a photograph of the dead body when it was recovered. He said the photo was clicked by Investigating Officer Raorane. “The police made a false statement that the body was cut into 300 pieces. The skeleton can be seen in the photograph. The skull is intact. But still the media has been saying all these years that Neeraj Grover was brutally murdered,” he said.
Asked if chopping the body into pieces was not brutal, he said it was not cut into 300 pieces. “According to the post-mortem report, there are three or four cut marks. The police have said that the big bag contained the body and the small bag had clothes,” he said.
Neeraj Grover was killed in Maria's flat in Malad on May 7, 2008. Later, Maria and Jerome cut the body into pieces and disposed it of in the jungle of Manor in neighbouring Thane district.
