Grover murder: List of 30 witnesses prepared

A list of 30 witnesses has been prepared by the police to depose against Kannada film actress Marrayya Monica Susayraj and her naval officer boyfriend M L Jerome Mathew in the sensational TV production house executive Neeraj Grover murder case.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria said statements of 30 to 40 witnesses have been recorded by the police in the Grover murder case, all of whom will be deposing before the court.

Maria had earlier said that the chargesheet in the case will be presented by the end of June so that the trial starts at the earliest.

Amongst those whose statements have been recorded are Mathew's friends and superiors at the Kochi naval base, fellow passengers and air crew who saw him on Kochi-Mumbai flight in the wee hours of May 6, a security guard in Susayraj's apartment, attendants in a suburban mall who saw Susayraj shopping on May 7 after Grover's murder and forensic experts, Maria said.

Grover, a creative head with TV production house Synergy Adlabs, was stabbed to death allegedly by Mathew in Susayraj's apartment in suburban Malad, on May 7, over a suspected love triangle.

Susayraj and Mathew allegedly chopped Grover's body to several pieces, put the parts in three bags and then disposed it off by burning at Manor in neighbouring Thane district.

Susayraj, aspiring to get into TV serials, was friendly with Grover to get a break. Mathew was her childhood friend who was based in Kochi and arrived in Mumbai the same morning.