Is it Maria? Or is it Just Mumbai?
I recall that over three years back, in May 2008, to be precise, readers and television viewers were riveted by a bizarre story that was unfolding in front of them. A young and attractive actress from Kannada films, Maria Susairaj, was picked up for questioning by the cops, for the astonishingly brutal murder of Neeraj Grover, a man she barely knew. Her accomplice in the ghastly crime was her so-called fiancé, a Kochi-based naval lieutenant, Emile Jerome Mathew.
What was truly horrifying about the act was the attitude of the culprits, Maria and her lover Jerome, who cold bloodedly butchered an innocent man. As if the elaborate attempts to cover up the crime were not devilish enough, it later turned out the two had a Plan B in place, which was to try and fool investigating officers still further. But the murderers had not taken one important factoid into account when they tried to pass off their cock and bull story of the mysterious disappearance of Neeraj Grover – top cop Rakesh Maria.
Now here’s a cop with not just a first rate, razor sharp mind, but an impeccable track record (he’s the same guy who’d picked up Sanjay Dutt after the Bombay bomb blasts). Maria the starlet, ever the consummate actress, had had the temerity to meet her namesake, Maria the cop, to file a missing person report, about the man she and her boyfriend had chopped into several pieces, stuffed the body parts into large bags bought by her from a neighbourhood supermarket, and then burnt to cinders in a remote wood close to the beach. If this is sounding like a C-grade movie script penned by an out-of-job crime writer, the truth was still worse!
Going by available data, Maria came to Mumbai, the ultimate babe magnet, to get roles in television serials/movies and become rich and famous. It is a common enough dream in this showbiz city which lures thousands of hopefuls month after month. Once they get here, they stay put, regardless of the ugly underbelly that swallows several victims. Distant suburbs are full of these ragged armies in search of that elusive ticket to overnight money and glory. Some fall by the wayside, others manage to hang on; still others branch out into a life of drugs, prostitution and crime. Very, very few make it. And then again, at what cost?
Maria’s story is extreme in what eventually transpired. It may have played out differently had her suspicious ‘fiancé’ Jerome not showed up on her doorstep at the crack of dawn and caught her in a compromising situation with Neeraj – the man Maria was hoping would get her what she most wanted – a break. There are any numbers of Marias floating around the fringes of Bollywood. The television industry is no stranger to these desperados either, who are willing to do anything for the chance to be on camera. For every one Maria, there are a hundred Neerajs – men who boast about their ‘contacts’ and promise ‘intros’ to influential people. It is a mutually understood arrangement between two consulting adults – one hungry for money, the other, hungry for sex. So it was with these two….
Till of course, the jealous ‘other’ arrived on the scene. What followed is right out of a film noir – a black and evil deed, perpetrated with zero remorse. According to Maria’s early confessions, she and Jerome had sex twice over, after murdering Neeraj. It is assumed Maria had also had sex with the dead man a few hours prior to her lover’s arrival. Which psychiatrist in the world will be able to throw some light on what appears to be wildly aberrant behaviour?
The question is: Was Maria always a sick person? Or did Mumbai turn her into a monster? Can we blame the city for perverting the minds of those who flock here hoping for a rub off … such glamour! So much moolah! What fame! Are girls like Maria vamps or victims? One man is dead. The other is in jail. While she herself went on singing like a canary, changing her tune on a daily basis. One day she claimed Jerome raped her at knife point. On another day she insisted it was Neeraj who attacked Jerome in the first place.
Soon, she was forgotten, as was Moon Das, but the Mumbai magnet will continue to attract women like them – good looking, unscrupulous, manipulative and heartless. How many will have to die before society wakes up? I am sure a canny film maker has already commissioned a story based on this grisly tragedy. Well … that’s showbiz. Cruel till the bitter end. Either it kills you, or you kill someone.
Role, anyone?