Mumbai:
Two prime witnesses in the high profile Neeraj Grover murder case have expressed their shock at the court's verdict. MiD DAY spoke to two men, whose services Susairaj availed to destroy evidence related to the killing.
A protester holds up a poster of Neeraj Grover for whose homicide Emile Jerome has been sentenced to 10 years of prison against a hoarding of the sequel to the movie Murder
While Kamlesh Jain cleaned the blood-stained mattresses in which Grover was stabbed, Sanjay Sharan (name changed) lent his car to Susairaj, who used it to dispose of Grover's mutilated body.
Both unsuspecting men were unwittingly responsible for delaying the course of justice. Both were of the opinion that the starlet was let off easily, and deserved harsher punishment.
Ms Susairaj approached Kamlesh Jain, a local mattress maker, when she needed to refurbish the bloodstained mattresses on which Neeraj Grover had been stabbed to death.
His shop is located in the Dheeraj Ganga building, a stone's throw from Dheeraj Solitaire, where Grover was brutally killed.
According to Mr Jain, Ms Susairaj approached him on May 8, 2008, a day after the murder, to order new covers for her mattresses.
"I respect the court of justice, but as an individual, I feel that she deserved a far more severe punishment," said Jain, a prime witness in the case, who was questioned at least twice by the Mumbai crime branch, and also produced at the court to give his account.
"She came to our shop on May 8, 2008, accompanied by a man. She appeared extremely confident, placing the order like any other customer. She paid her first visit to my store at around 11 am in the morning, but I was not present at the time. She came for a second visit at around 9 pm.
She wanted the cover of her mattresses changed, and accordingly I sent two of my employees with her. They came back with two mattresses, both of which had been divested of their covers. She came to my shop a third time to choose a colour of her taste. We delivered the mattress to her place the very same day," Mr Jain said.
Team MiD DAY also met Mr Sharan, whose car was allegedly used by Ms Susairaj to dispose the mutilated corpse. He said, "It is not at all a satisfactory verdict. I did all I could to help the Mumbai police, so that she would get the punishment she deserves."
"I am aware of the nitty-gritties of the case, as they have been unfolding from the very first day. She blatantly lied to me to use my car, in order to fulfill her criminal motives. She has been let go far too lightly," added Mr Sharan.
"I had met Maria at a friend's place in the year 2006. My second meeting with her was in 2008, four days before the murder. On May 7, she called me, requesting to borrow my car," he said.
"She claimed that her fiancé had been transferred to Mumbai by the Navy, and had to transport his luggage to his new place of stay. She said she had to pick him up, help him transport his luggage to his place, somewhere in town. At first I said no outright, as I needed my car to reach a party I was scheduled to attend that night.
But she would not take no for an answer, and pleaded repeatedly. Unable to dodge her, I decided to lend her the car, on condition that she would return it by 8.30 pm.
An hour later, the car still hadn't been returned. When I called her up asking for an explanation, she said that she was tied up at the police station, as one of her friends had gone missing. She promised to return the car the very next day, and did so," Mr Sharan said.
He added, "Till date, I have not been able to come to terms with the fact that a woman could commit such a heinous crime, and take such calculated measures to cover it up. Her act of betrayal has shaken me to the core of my being. I have lost my ability to trust in people."
Unable to cope with the consciousness of having inadvertently helped the perpetrator of such a gruesome act, Mr Sharan has sold off his car to a scrap dealer.