Maria Susairaj walked free out of the jail on July 2. Will her mind be free from seeing the collage of images – of her boyfriend allegedly chopping a body into pieces in front of her, with blood splattering all over and the possibleguilt she faces hereafter? MUMBAI: Cut to three years ago. An aspiring actress named Maria Susairaj makes contact with a creative director of a television channel for a role in a TV soap. Some arrangements are made between them and this creative director, Neeraj Grover, lands up at Maria's house for a night out. In between their escapade, Susairaj kept receiving angry calls from her boyfriend after knowing Grover's presence in her house and telling her to throw him out. Not believing what Susairaj said, Emile Jerome – the boyfriend arrived in the early morning at her house, only to get into a scuffle with Grover after seeing him in bed with his girlfriend. In this furor, Emile, in a fit of anger and jealousy stabbed the man several times, leaving him bleeding to death. As per Susairaj's “constant statement to the police” she told her boyfriend to take him to the hospital, but despite her pleas, Jerome, a trained naval officer who knew the consequences of bleeding profusely, refused to budge. Finally, they both decided to dispose off his body. But how? They devised an alleged plan to erase all evidence, which they perhaps thought would save them from the police. They allegedly chopped the body into pieces and burned it. Jerome told the young actress to buy choppers from a nearby shop. After her return, Jerome cut the body in several pieces, stuffed it in a sports bag and both drove to a nearby jungle to burn the body. Hence, no trace of blood, body, motive, weapons, etc. All evidences wiped out. After a few days, both were arrested. The case begins. Every time a new confession from each of the offenders. The case is prolonged as there is no evidence of “what really happened and how it happened.” Cut to the present, July 2. Over three years have passed, Susairaj who allegedly helped in the murder and who reports say misled the police, walks free from the jail and her boyfriend Jerome, will be free after 7 years. The whole nation of India was shocked with the intensity of the murder and is still numb from the verdict. Crying for justice are Grover's parents. Even as Susairaj walks free, the case raises a number of pertinent questions, which are likely to remain unanswered. Rage Can a person in a fit of rage do something horrendous as this? Why would a person kill and chop a body in pieces with no criminal record or mental disabilities is no less then a puzzle? Can rage, fear, jealously, provocation make one do these things? People are asking these questions. One filmmaker is capitalizing by making a film on the issue and promoting it as “exploring the mindset at that very moment of killing, undertaken by people who are not killers or deranged people.” The real intention and motivation may be never known, since all evidence was wiped out and the images of what really happened stays inside Susairaj and Jerome. In a recent debate, a lawyer said to defend and justify himself, “The body was cut in 3 parts and not 300 parts” The news anchor in return, asked the lawyer if it really matters how many pieces a body is cut into? The person is dead and the family is suffering. “Isn't that enough?” the anchor asked. BM
