Neeraj Grover murder case: Jerome challenges his conviction in High Court

A fortnight after being sentenced to ten years jail term in the Neeraj Grover murder case, former navymen Emile Jerome has moved the Bomaby High Court challenging his conviction and blaming the Kannada actress Maria Sussairaj for the offence. His lawyer Wahab Khan said that they had filed an appeal in the High Court against the sessions court order. The appeal would come up for hearing on July 25 along with Jerome's bail application. On July 1st, the sessions ourt had convicted Jerome for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and had sentenced him to 10 years rigorous imprisonment. Jerome's fiance and Kannada actress, Maria, was a co-accused in the case and were held guilty for the destruction of evidence and awarded a three year sentence. Maria Sussairaj was already left off from the prison two days after the conviction, as she had already undergone the sentence period. Jerome in his appeal said,the motive,if any,was with the original accused No.1 (Sussairaj) for committing the offence and not with the applicant (Jerome). The appeal further states that the prosecution was not able to properly ascertain the time of Neeraj Grover's death, and hence, the possibility that the victim was already dead, when Jerome landed in Mumbai, cannot be ruled out. It further alleges that the investigation agency had put forward evidences like knife and plastic can, in which, kerosene was taken to burn the body. Reported by       AR