Had no reason to kill Hema as ‘entire episode’ was over with divorce: Chintan

Artist Chintan Upadhyay on Saturday told the Dindoshi sessions court that he had no reason to kill his estranged wife Hema Upadhyay, also an artist, in December 2015 as the “entire episode” (the issues that he had with her) had ended when the family court granted him divorce in October 2014

MUMBAI: Artist Chintan Upadhyay on Saturday told the Dindoshi sessions court that he had no reason to kill his estranged wife Hema Upadhyay, also an artist, in December 2015 as the “entire episode” (the issues that he had with her) had ended when the family court granted him divorce in October 2014.

Chintan Upadhyay (HT Photo)

“The episode had ended for him when the divorce was granted and he had no reason to kill his wife,” advocate Raja Thakare said in his final arguments on behalf of the artist. “Chintan had first served Hema divorce notice way back in 2009. He was granted divorce on the grounds of cruelty, with judicial findings in his favour. Why would he plan a murder after so many years in 2015, when his feeling of hatred (towards her) might have been highest in 2009,” Thakare added.

Thakare pointed out that much before the murder of Hema and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani took place, Chintan had already paid the permanent alimony of ₹16 lakh, pursuant to the family court order. “The story of prosecution does not inspire confidence,” Thackeray argued.

Chintan was accused of getting the victims killed through Vidyadhar Rajbhar, the absconding prime accused, as he was “frustrated owing to their long legal battle for divorce” and to execute his plans, he hired his fabricator Vidhyadhar Rajbhar, Pradeep Rajbhar and their men.

Disputing the claim, Thakare argued that the confessional statement given by Pradeep Rajbhar, which has been relied on by the prosecution to implicate Chintan in the double murder case was false and contradicted certain aspects of the prosecution case.

Three months after his arrest in the case, Pradeep Rajbhar on March 8, 2016, gave his confessional statement before a metropolitan magistrate, unravelling the purported conspiracy and its execution for which Chintan had allegedly promised them money.

Questioning the timing of the confessional statement, Thakare claimed that it was extracted out of force by the police to create a hurdle in the process of Chintan’s bail hearing.

“The statement is in a flow, which reflects that Pradeep Rajbhar was given a statement to memorise before he stated it before the magistrate. He was tutored,” Thackeray said. Besides, he pointed out that claims made by Pradeep Rajbhar in his statement do not correspond with the call data records (CDR).

As an example, Thakare pointed out that the police claimed that at one point of time Vidyadhar had left his phone behind with Shivkumar, another accused in the case, but the CDR shows calls between the two during that period. “Why would Vidyadhar call Shivkumar or vice versa, if both the phones were with Shivkumar,” the defence lawyer asked.

The defence also claimed that key accused Vidhyadhar Rajbhar was not present at the meeting in which the alleged conspiracy was hatched and Chintan allegedly briefed the accused about his intentions and plans to eliminate Hema.

Besides, the lawyer also pointed out that the prosecution had not submitted CDR in support of its claim that a day after the murders, Vidhyadhar had called his mother, Savitri, and informed her that they had killed Hema and her lawyer, as instructed by Chintan, but the artist was thereafter threatening him not to surrender.

According to the prosecution, Vidhyadhar Rajbhar had hired other accused, lured the victims to his workshop in Kandivali, where they were smothered to death on December 11, 2015. The bodies were later packed in cardboard boxes and dumped in a nullah. The next day, a garbage collector discovered the bodies and alerted the police, who unravelled the purported mystery behind the double murder and arrested Chintan and others, the prosecution said.

Classmates Chintan and Hema got married in October 1998 in Jaipur. The love marriage, however, started seeing strains from 2007-08 and eventually in 2009, Chintan had applied to the family court in Bandra for divorce.