Grover case: ATS chief deposes

Anti-terrorism squad chief Rakesh Maria, who was the joint commissioner of police (crime) in 2008, deposed in the Neeraj Grover murder case on Tuesday.

The defence had called up on Maria to bring out the details of a press conference addressed by him in May 2008 on Grover’s murder. On being repeatedly questioned by the defence if the investigating officer in the case had complained to him about any misreporting by the media, Maria said, “It will take my entire career to clarify. The officer would have been too busy with the investigations to worry about what came out in the media.”

Maria said that the information disseminated to the media at the press conference on May 21, 2008, was given to him by Sunil Ghosalkar, a crime branch officer from the Bandra unit who is now no more. He had coordinated with the police and crime branch after the incident.

Maria also told the court that the crime branch got involved in the case after Grover’s parents visited him in May 2008. “Seeing their grief, I directed the crime branch to assist the Malad police in the investigations,” said Maria, denying that Grover’s father came to him due to police inaction.