'The phone records showed there was something fishy about Maria’s claims. If the cellphone was at Maria’s home, why did the records say it was in Dahisar?' says Sagar Shivalkar, assistant police inspector.
It was an SMS received on Neeraj Grover’s cellphone on the day of his death that had given investigators the first clue leading to the cracking of the case 14 days after the gruesome murder.
Maria Susairaj, a struggling Kannada actress, had lodged a complaint with the Malad police on May 9, 2008, claiming that her friend Neeraj Grover, a media house executive, had gone missing after leaving her flat around 1:30am on May 7. She also stated that he had left his cellphone at her home.
Investigators were clueless for the first few days of the probe. They first sensed a breakthrough when Grover’s cellphone records revealed that a message was received on his phone around 5:15pm on May 7. The tower location showed his presence near Dahisar checknaka at that time.
“The phone records showed there was something fishy about Maria’s claims. If the cellphone was at Maria’s home, why did the records say it was in Dahisar?” said assistant police inspector Sagar Shivalkar, one of the investigating officers.
What pointed the needle of suspicion at Maria were her freshly painted bedroom and the new bedroom upholsteries. The forensic examination found blood stains on the door latch and certain upholsteries. The DNA sampling revealed that the blood had been Grover’s. “The knife cuts on Maria’s left palm made our suspicion stronger,” said another official.
Phone records further revealed that Maria had spoken with her boyfriend Emile Jerome on the night before Grover went missing. Records of air tickets and the statement of an airport manager from Kochi established the fact that Jerome was in Mumbai on May 7 and had in fact reached Maria’s flat that day.
Maria’s debit card records showed that she had purchased new curtains and a chopper from Hypercity Mall. The police further found that the car which she claimed to have taken from a naval officer friend of Jerome’s did not actually belong to him. Maria later retracted, saying that the car belonged to another friend.
A Lokhandwala petrol pump attendee testified that Jerome had purchased petrol in a can. A paan vendor from whom Jerome had purchased a cigarette lighter also gave his statement to the police. Statements of the building watchman and scores of others nailed the accused.
On May 21, Maria confessed to the crime and showed police the isolated spot in Manor where Grover was burned. The burnt residue of bone particles, shirt buttons, etc was recovered. Maria reportedly confessed that Grover was cut into pieces and stuffed in three bags before being taken in the car to Manor.
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