Three years after TV executive Neeraj Grover, known for developing TV quiz show Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain? was brutally murdered, the Mumbai sessions court will today pronounce the quantum of punishment in the case today.
In trouble are Maria Susairaj, a Kannada actress and her Navy officer boyfriend, Emile Jerome Mathew. The pair, however, could just maybe escape even after Grover's body was found chopped to over 300 pieces.
Pronouncing the verdict on Thursday (June 30), Sessions court judge M. W. Chandwani convicted Susairaj of the lesser charge of destruction of evidence. She can be sentenced for three years.
The court also held that Jerome had acted impulsively on seeing Grover at Susairaj's residence and that it was not a pre-meditated killing. The former Navy Lieutenant, was found guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under section 304(1) of the IPC and section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence). He can face a jail term upto 10 years.
The couple were arrested in May 2008 after Grover's charred body was found in a gunny bag in neighbouring Thane.
Grover's father, Amarnath Grover, who fought for justice for three years, termed the verdict as ‘very disappointing’. Susairaj had called younger Grover to her residence and conspired in murdering him, the father said.
Susairaj's counsel said she had already completed three years in jail and hence would be freed on Friday.