Daijiworld Media Network

Mumbai, Jun 30: Neeraj Grover's murder was perhaps the most heinous and gruesome ever committed in the country. It was not so much the murder that shocked everyone, but the way the murderers tried to cover up their crime.

The murder was committed three years ago on May 7, 2008, and on June 30, 2011 the Mumbai court delivered the verdict, pronouncing both Maria Susairaj and her boyfriend Emile Jerome guilty of the crime.

The court verdict declared Jerome guilty of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under sections 304 (part I) IPC and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence). Maria was convicted only on charges of causing disappearance of evidence.

Neeraj, assistant creative head of Synergy Adlabs, was stabbed and killed by Jerome when the latter found him with Maria (Jerome's girlfriend) in her flat on the morning of May 7. Maria had reportedly invited Neeraj, who she had been dating, to help her with unpacking the previous night.

What followed was something that made headlines and shocked the nation like never before. Soon after the murder, Maria went to a nearby mall, bought two big sports bags and a huge knife, and the duo chopped Neeraj's body into as many as 300 pieces and stuffed them into one of the bags. The other bag was used to stuff the blood-stained curtains and their clothes. Jerome and Maria then went over to Manor forest and set the bags ablaze.

Maria had earlier befriended Neeraj in the hopes of making it big in the television industry.

The two were arrested a few days later, on May 21, after which Maria showed the spot where they had burnt Neeraj's body. But it was only a week later that she confessed to the crime.

The court on Thursday absolved Maria of murder, which was met with disappointment by Neeraj's's parents. They said that since it was Maria who had invited Neeraj, she would be the main culprit

The quantum of sentence will be delivered on Friday July 1.