Mumbai, July 03: Mariah Monica Susairaj Saturday claimed she was innocent in the May 2008 killing of television executive Neeraj Grover.
“All I can say is I am innocent,” Mariah said, facing a hostile and aggressive media after her release in the morning from the Byculla Jail.
“I have left my past behind. I have not yet decided on (the) future. I will let my family decide,” she said.
Mariah said she painted and prayed in prison.
“I have not yet digested the fact that I have been convicted, and I have not seen so many people in the past three years,” she said.
However, both Mariah and her lawyer Sherif Sheikh refused to comment on the case or the judgement or the victim Grover, saying the matter was still sub-judice.
Mariah came to the Mumbai Press Club accompanied by her lawyer and her brother even as scores of friends of the victim led by film maker Ashok Pandit created a drama at the media conference.
Carrying placards, they shouted slogans demanding justice for Grover and booed both Sheikh and Mariah.
To a question, Sheikh said that Mariah has no plans to join Bollywood or act in any film, contrary to what has been claimed by some film-makers.
Sheikh took pains to dismiss the claim that Grover’s body was chopped into 300 pieces. He flashed a photograph submitted by the prosecution to back what he was saying.
“You tell me, can you see where are the 300 pieces? The prosecution did not mention 300 pieces. The photograph shows the body was almost intact, let alone 30 pieces.”
—Agencies