Jerome once guarded the President

Not only was Grover's murderer Kalam's personal security officer, he also received a bravery award from the former president, say friends

Jerome once guarded the President

Not only was Grover's murderer Kalam's personal security officer, he also received a bravery award from the former president, say friends

The man behind one of the country's most brutal 'crimes of passion' once proudly shook hands with APJ Abdul Kalam. Emile Jerome Mathew received a bravery award from the then president in 2007 and was chosen from among 500 naval officers to be Kalam's personal security officer during his visit to Kochi.

Murmurs in the background: A protester holds up a poster of
Neeraj Groveru00a0for whose homicide (inset) Emile Jerome has been
sentenced to 10 years of prisonu00a0against a hoarding of the sequel to
the movie Murder. Pic/Satyajit Desai

Friends and classmates are shocked that the ambitious boy was involved in such a brutal crime. "He was one of the most ambitious people I knew. He was in the Class VIII when he decided that he would join the armed forces and went on to become a national-level skater and swimmer," said one of Mathew's close friends and classmates from the St Matthias School, Mysore.

About Mathew's relationship with Maria Susairaj, friends said that he was always concerned about her and made it a point to keep tabs on her.u00a0"He had borrowed money from a common friend to fly to Mumbai and check on his fianc ufffde. It was obviously not a pre-planned murder and Emile did not believe in violence. But, catching Maria red-handed may have driven him into a fit of rage, resulting in the attack and Neeraj's death," said another friend.

Friends revealed that despite Susairaj and Mathew going to the same school and college, their relationship may have begun because of their membership in the same church. "Maria was two years senior to Emile and they were not dating in college. Both were members of the same church and that is where I believe their relationship began. Maria was a very friendly person and was known to be quite charming with the boys. She was intensely competitive and it is difficult to imagine her as a killer," said one of Susairaj's classmates. Mathew's friends said they had rebuked him for dating Susairaj. "Emile only dated women of a certain kind. We were very surprised when he started seeing Maria," a friend said.