Kanpur, July 1 (IANS) Amarnath Grover, father of slain television executive Neeraj Grover, Friday said the sentence pronounced by a Mumbai court for an ex-navy officer and Kannada actress in his son’s murder was ‘not sufficient’ and they ‘deserved the death penalty’.

‘We are extremely unhappy with the sentence. We have been shattered. It could not get worse than this,’ Grover told reporters here.

‘It’s surprising and shocking that the two people who committed the same crime have been punished differently. They deserved the death penalty for the brutal murder of my son,’ he added.

Asked whether he would move a higher court challenging the sentence, Grover replied: ‘Owing to health and financial reasons, we would not be in a position to do it independently. However, I will appeal to the state that the case should be reviewed.’

A Mumbai court Friday awarded Kannada actress Maria Susairaj a sentence of three years, while her boyfriend Emile Jerome – a former naval officer – was given 10 years imprisonment in the Grover murder case.

In 2008, Neeraj Grover was killed in a flat in Malad West, 25 km from Mumbai. His body was then hacked into pieces and disposed of near Manor in Thane district.