New Delhi:
He was the boy next door. A Kanpur lad with Mumbai dreams. Neeraj Grover, 25 years old, had got a degree in mass communication from the Amity University in Noida and then headed to Mumbai.
He worked with mainstream TV companies. In Mumbai, Neeraj Grover met a small-time Kannada film actress Maria Susairaj, who wanted a shot at TV stardom. Reports say they met through a cameraman and soon started meeting regularly.
On May 7, 2008, Neeraj Grover disappeared. His elderly parents, who said they spoke to their son twice a day and had done so the last time on the evening of May 6, sought the police's help to find him. A few days later, Maria too reported Neeraj Grover missing.
The police investigated and found burnt human remains and a gold chain and locket. Neeraj Grover's parents identified it as his and the police pieced together a gruesome tale of murder. The prosecution in the case has contended that Neeraj had visited Maria on the night of May 6, 2008, to help her move into a new apartment.
While the TV executive was at the actress' flat, her boyfriend Emile Jerome Mathew, a Navy Lieutenant, reportedly called her. He heard a male voice and asked Maria to ensure Neeraj did not stay over. But Neeraj Grover did stay the night, say the police, and the next morning, very early, Maria answered the door to find Mathew, who had flown down from the Kochi Naval base.
Mathew allegedly found Neeraj Grover in Maria's bedroom and, police say, used kitchen knife to stab him. Maria and Mathew are accused of planning to dispose the body - with Maria allegedly stepping out to a mall to buy airbags and room freshners and a big knife. Police claim that they used this knife to cut Grover's body into pieces which they then allegedly carried out to a remote part of town and burnt.
Maria and Mathew, always prime suspects, were arrested and have been in jail for the last three years.
Neeraj Grover's friends and parents have described him as a simple, fun loving person, whose biggest moment had been to get a job in Mumbai. His parents, aged and infirm, have been fighting hard for justice. Alongside, they recently had to contend with the news that Bollywood filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma was making a film based on the gruesome murder of their son. The Grovers requested Verma not to make the film, but RGV has denied that his film
Not A Love Story, is based on Neeraj Grover's story.