Amarnath Grover (50) told additional sessions judge CA Jadhav that he could not remember the exact date on which he was informed about his son's death.
The trial in the Neeraj Grover murder case, that shook the city last year, began on Friday with the victim's father deposing before the sessions court.
Amarnath Grover (50) told additional sessions judge CA Jadhav that he could not remember the exact date on which he was informed about his son's death as he was under tremendous mental stress during that time.
Amarnath who lives with his wife in Kanpur, said Neeraj on completing his masters in mass communication from Kanpur University came to Mumbai after he secured a job in a TV production house.
Neeraj, an executive producer with the production house, was stabbed to death and then cut into several pieces on May 7 allegedly by Kannada actress Maria Susairaj and her naval officer fiance Emile Jerome Mathew.
"We used to talk to Neeraj over the phone twice a day. The last time we spoke to Neeraj was on the night of May 6," Amarnath said.
Neeraj was not answering his phone from the morning of May 7. "We kept trying to contact him several times but there was no response. We then called Nishant Grover, Neeraj's cousin and roommate, but even he said he could not get in touch with Neeraj and was searching for him," he said.
On May 8, Amarnath came to Mumbai and lodged a missing complaint with the suburban Malad police. "I was advised to approach the crime branch following which I met the joint commissioner of police Rakesh Maria," Amarnath said.
"After a fortnight, I was summoned to the crime branch unit in suburban Bandra where I was shown a polythene bag with ashes, burnt human remains and a gold chain with a pendant and was asked to identify if it belonged to my son," Amarnath told the court.
Amarnath identified the pendant as his son's. "If I won't identify my son then who will. No one can imagine my mental state at that time," he told the court.
The judge then showed the gold chain and pendant to Amarnath in a sealed packet and asked him if it was the same that was shown to him by the police.
An emotional Amarnath just lowered his head and replied in the affirmative.
The next hearing on the case will be on May 5 when three witnesses- Nishant Grover, Mayuri, who last saw Susairaj and the victim together, and Nishant Lal, a friend of Neeraj Grover.
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