Jerome denied bail in Grover murder case
The Bombay High Court rejected the bail application of former naval officer Emile Jerome, convicted in the widely reported Neeraj Grover killing case.
The division bench comprising Justices V M Kanade and M L Tahalyani, after hearing the bail plea, on Tuesday observed that there was ample circumstantial evidence against Jerome. “At the most we can expedite the hearing on the appeals challenging the conviction as well as the state government’s appeal seeking a more rigourous punishment.”
The court, thereafter, posted the hearing of the appeals for February. Though the court had already dropped ample hints of its decision to reject the bail plea during the last hearing, it had also made remarks on the trial court which had relied on the retracted confession made by co-accused Maria Susairaj.
It maybe recalled that the trial court had acquitted both Jerome and his fiance Susairaj, a small-time Kannada actress, of murder charge. Prosecution had taken up the angle of a premediated murder. However, during the trial it faltered while trying to prove its point.
Thus the trial court convicted Jerome for culpable homicide, sentencing him to ten years imprisonment and convicted Susairaj for destorying evidence sentencing her to three years imprisonment.
