The court noted there was sufficient circumstantial evidence to reject the application. It said, at the most, it could direct that the ongoing case, in which the state government has applied for enhancement of sentence, should be expedited.
Jerome has been held guilty by the trial court and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
In the previous hearing, the Divison Bench of Justice V M Kanade and Justice M L Tahilyani had orally remarked that they were not inclined to grant bail and that the trial court seemed to proceeded on the wrong footing by relying on Maria Susairaj’s retracted confession, when there was other evidence on record.
The trial court had acquitted Jerome of murder charges and convicted him only of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Jerome’s girlfriend Maria Susairaj was convicted only for destruction of evidence and was handed out a three-year jail term. Having served the sentence, Susairaj was released from prison a day after the trial court’s verdict.
The High Court’s order on Tuesday came after additional public prosecutor Rajesh More told the court the prosecution had established a “chain of circumstances” against Jerome. The lawyer referred to Jerome’s call records which showed that he and Grover had spoken on the phone a day before the murder.
Arguing for Jerome, lawyers Shirish Gupte and Khan Abdul Wahab had contended that the evidence against him was of a circumstantial nature. They had also said that he has already undergone more than three years in custody and that the murder was not pre-meditated, but was committed after sudden provocation.
They claimed that the prosecution was unable to even prove whether Grover was alive when Jerome came to Mumbai.