Kannada actress, Maria Susairaj, co-accused in the sensational Neeraj Grover murder case was denied bail, when S.T. Mahajan, Additional Sessions Judge at the Mumbai Sessions Court, rejected her application for bail Tuesday.  Susairaj, in her bail application, states that she should only be charged for destroying evidence and not for murdering Grover, Creative Executive with a TV production house.

Rejecting her second application, Judge Mahajan stated that there was prima facie evidence that Susairaj, alongwith her fiancé, Emile Jerome Mathew, an officer in the Indian Navy, was an active participant in the murder.

Refusing to accept the plea that it was an unpremeditated murder, Judge Mahajan shot down defense arguments stating that on the night of the murder i.e. 6th May 2008, mobile records of the co-accused reveal that she had made 20-calls to Mathew requesting him to come to Mumbai.  Further, in what seems to be dubious conduct, Susairaj went out to purchase items to destroy evidence of the murder.  This is the second application moved by Susairaj, who is pleading not guilty for murder.

G. Kannur and Harshad Ponda, lawyers acting on behalf of Susairaj, now plan to challenge Sessions Court orders in the Bombay High Court on the grounds that Mathew would have been called to Mumbai earlier and not at the last moment, if the murder was pre-mediated.  Countering the defence argument of no conspiracy theory, R V Kini, Public Prosecutor stressed Susairaj’s anger over Grover’s failure in getting her any roles in TV serials or movies.