Court to grill artist Chintan Upadhyay, others with over 800 questions
Artist Chintan Upadhyay and his accomplices will face over 800 questions in the Dindoshi sessions court in relation to the murder of his wife Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani. According to the prosecution, Upadhyay had hired contract killers to carry out the murders, as the spouses were fighting a bitter divorce matter and the lawyer represented his wife. Upadhyay is facing charges of giving the contract to kill. The questions will be asked under section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
MUMBAI: The Dindoshi sessions court on Friday prepared a list of over 800 questions to confront artist Chintan Upadhyay and his purported accomplices, booked for murdering his wife Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani.
Their statements will be recorded under section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Chintan is facing a charge of giving the contract to kill his estranged wife Hema and her lawyer Haresh, as the spouses were fighting a bitter divorce matter and the lawyer represented his wife.
According to the prosecution case, Hema and Bhambani were smothered to death by the prime accused Vidhyadhar Rajbhar with the help of others at Chintan’s behest on December 11, 2015. They had packed the bodies in cardboard boxes and dumped them in a nullah. The next day, a garbage collector discovered the bodies.
The prosecution claimed that Chintan Upadhyay had hired contract killers to carry out the murders. They stated that he hired prime accused Vidyadhar Rajbhar— a fabrication artist who he knew—and others to kill his estranged wife in exchange for money. Advocate Bhambhani was representing Hema in the matrimonial dispute between the spouses.
Chintan was arrested on December 22, 2015, for allegedly hatching the plan to commit the murders. The prosecution in the last week of April closed the evidence in the case.
Based on the evidence produced by the prosecution and the circumstances of the case, the court prepared the questions to be asked to the accused persons with the help of the public prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade and defence lawyers.
Under section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code, these questions are asked to give an opportunity for the accused to explain the incriminating evidence and circumstances cited against them by the prosecution during the trial.
On Friday, Chintan was asked questions related to the discovery of the bodies of Hema and her lawyer and subsequent actions taken by the police for registration of the case and sending the bodies for postmortem. Chintan replied that he was unaware of the developments. The court will continue to confront Chintan and seek his explanation for incriminating evidence and circumstances on Monday.