The Bombay high court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of Emile Jerome, convicted in the Neeraj Grover murder case.
The Bombay high court on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of Emile Jerome, convicted in the Neeraj Grover murder case, on the grounds that the prosecution had provided sufficient circumstantial evidence against him.
A division bench comprising justice VM Kanade and justice ML Tahaliyani said, “There is sufficient circumstantial evidence. At the most, we can expedite hearing on the appeal filed by the accused against the conviction and the state government’s appeal seeking enhancement of sentence.”
Jerome, who has been sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, had argued that it was his fiance Maria Susairaj who had conspired to kill Grover. His counsel, Shirish Gupte, said, “Jerome came to Mumbai only on the afternoon of May 7, 2008. He met Susairaj and took her shopping. He does not know what happened in her flat the previous night.”
Opposing the bail plea, additional public prosecutor Rajesh More said, “The murder was premeditated. Susairaj felt cheated by Grover, who failed to get her a role in television serials, because of which the conspiracy to eliminate him was hatched.”
Accordingly, the bench rejected Jerome’s petition and expedited the appeal hearings, which will come up in February.
A trial court had recently acquitted both Jerome and Susairaj of murder, saying it was not premeditated. However, Jerome was convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. Susairaj was convicted of a lesser charge of destruction of evidence and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Since she had spent more time in jail as an undertrial, she was freed a day after the sentencing.
The state government had filed an appeal in the high court seeking enhancement of the sentences. The two convicts also challenged their conviction, which have also been admitted.
Grover, a media professional, was killed on May 7, 2008, inside a rented flat of Susairaj. His body was later cut into pieces and burnt in the jungles of Manor.
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