TV producer murder: former defence lawyers to be quizzed

Mumbai: Two former defence lawyers in the TV executive Neeraj Grover murder case are likely to be questioned soon in connection with an alleged threat made to a prosecution witness warning her not to depose against the prime accused, police said on Thursday.

The Crime branch had arrested two persons Raju Wankhede (37), a small-time real estate agent, and Munshi Yadav (38) in the first week of this month for allegedly threatening a 'panch' witness, Usha Ramalu, asking her not to depose against Kannada actress Maria Susairaj, the prime accused in the case.

They allegedly warned her of dire consequences if she testified against the actress.

Preliminary investigation suggested that the two accused acted at the behest of Susairaj's lawyers Acharya Murthy and Sudeep Pasbola's junior Raja Thakur.

Following the allegations, the lawyers withdrew from the case and refuted their role in warning the witness.

"The probe reveals that the two arrested accused were in touch with lawyers Murthy and Thakur. The mobile records show that the two lawyers had spoken to the accused on several occasions during the period when they threatened the witness," a senior crime branch official told PTI.

"We are trying to establish if the accused acted at the behest of these two lawyers. We will soon summon them," the officer added.

According to police, the arrested accused Yadav and Wankhede had gone to witness Ramalu's residence on September 5 and asker her not to depose against Susairaj.

As per the first information report (FIR) filed by Ramalu in suburban Goregaon police station, Yadav had come to her house and asked her not to say against Susairaj in the court. The witness also said that Yadav took her outside the house and made her speak to Wankhede.

The witness claimed that she was subsequently made to speak to Thakur, one of the actress' lawyers, over mobile phone.

Grover, creative head of a TV production house, was killed in Mumbai on May 7 in 2008.

According to prosecution Susairaj and her fiance, Navy officer Emile Jerome Mathew, had allegedly stabbed Grover to death after an altercation at former's residence and disposed the body in a nearby forest.