Chintan’s lawyer seeks to recall witness he forgot to cross-examine

According to the prosecution, Hema and Bhambhani were smothered to death by Vidhyadhar Rajbhar with the help of others at Chintan’s behest on December 11, 2015.

MUMBAI: Artist Chintan Upadhyay’s lawyer on Monday urged the Dindoshi court to recall key prosecution witness Bahadur Rajbhar in the double murder case of Hema Upadhyay and Harish Bhambhani, as the defence had forgotten to cross-examine him in January last year.

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Bahadur is a cousin of absconding accused Vidhyadhar Rajbhar, the prime accused who allegedly executed the plan hatched by Chintan to eliminate Chintan’s estranged wife and her lawyer.

According to the prosecution, Hema and Bhambhani were smothered to death by Vidhyadhar Rajbhar with the help of others at Chintan’s behest on December 11, 2015. The murderers packed the bodies in cardboard boxes and dumped them in a nullah in Kandivali. The next day, a garbage collector discovered the bodies and reported the matter to the police.

Bahadur was examined as prosecution witness number 34 by the prosecution on January 4 last year on the basis of his statement to the Kandivali police. However, the defence lawyers had requested that the cross-examination be deferred till the prosecution examined Vidhyadhar’s mother, Savitri. The court had allowed the plea but the defence counsel did not ask for Bahadur to be summoned for cross-examination later.

On perusal of the depositions, it was noticed that in several instances the evidence was recorded only on the computer but printouts were not taken and hence were not signed by the court. The court has now asked the police if they can trace Bahadur and bring him to the court for cross-examination.

In his statement, Bahadur had claimed that a few days before the murder, on December 2, 2015, Chintan had called him and asked him about the whereabouts of Vidhyadhar. When he asked Chintan why he wanted to know, Chintan told him that he needed to speak to Vidhyadhar for a project and also for some other work.

Bahadur later also claimed that a day after the murder of Hema and Bhambhani, Vidhyadhar’s mother, Savitri, had called him. In the said conversation, Savitri told him that Vidhyadhar had called her and said that he had killed Hema on the directions of Chintan and thereafter Chintan was threatening him.