Pics: Rons Bantwal
Daijiworld Media Network

Mumbai, Jul 3: Kannada actor Maria Susairaj's freedom from jail has disappointed many, especially the murdered Neeraj Grover's close friends, family and associates who believe the court let her off too easily and that she deserved a much stringent punishment.

Voicing their disgust, various personalities from the television and film industry like Raza Murad, Teejay Sidhu, Ashok Pandit and others marched in a protest from Malad to Juhu.

They also held a candlelight vigil at Lokhandwala in the evening. Murad said that the candlelight march was to express sympathy with the victim and his family members who had been denied justice.

Similar processions shall be organised in Lucknow and Kanpur, the cities from where Grover and his family hailed, Murad informed.

Over 500 protestors, including NGOs and the general public, carried placards and banners which proclaimed 'Justice For Neeraj Grover', 'Maria is A Killer'.

Many of them also carried large photographs of Neeraj Grover.

The rally was held with permission from police, informed Pandit. Earlier, police had arrested several protestors for holding a rally without taking prior permission. They were later released on the request of Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam,

Meanwhile, reports about Maria Susairaj being approached to participate in the next season of Bigg Boss were rubbished by Colors channel which telecasts the reality show. It clarified that it has no plans of approaching her in the future also.

Earlier, addressing a press conference soon after her release from the jail and subsequent visit to church, Maria had claimed innocence and said, "I know that I am innocent, and God knows I am innocent."

She had also expressed her sympathies for Grover's family and said that she had left her past behind.

Maria Susairaj was convicted of destroying evidence in connection with the gruesome murder of Neeraj Grover, and the Mumbai court awarded her a three-year jail term. However, as she had already served three years in jail as an undertrial, she was allowed to walk free, while her boyfriend and co-accused Emile Jerome was awarded a 10-year life imprisonment.