Hema Upadhyay, Harish Bhambhani murders: Chintan threatened prime accused not to surrender, court told

Artist Chintan Upadhyay developed extreme hatred towards his estranged wife and her lawyer, and pressured the absconding prime accused not to surrender, according to police. Upadhyay had also threatened to file cases against the accused and had a dispute over ?6 lakh he had lent him. The prosecution is relying on the testimony of the accused's mother, who stated that her son murdered the two victims on Upadhyay's instructions. Another accused had claimed that Upadhyay had promised him ?20 lakh to kill his wife.

Police on Tuesday told the Dindoshi sessions court that artist Chintan Upadhyay had developed extreme hatred towards her estranged wife Hema Upadhyay, also an artist, and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani after he shifted to Delhi in 2011. He pressured Vidhyadhar Rajbhar, the absconding prime accused, not to surrender before the police, the prosecution said.

Chintan Upadhyay - Art exhibition Thus Spake Zarathurstra at Pundole Art Gallery at fort - Photo by Dipak Hazra 19.05.08

Vidhyadhar Rajbhar, who worked as a fabricator for the couple, had borrowed around ₹6 lakh from Chintan after his father Vansraj Rajbhar’s death, special public prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade said.

“Vidhyadhar’s mother Savitri has deposed before the court that her son first paid back ₹2 lakh and returned the rest of money later, but Chintan denied this and there was a dispute between them. He had also threatened Vidhyadhar that he would file cases against him,” Bagade said.

The prosecution relied on Savitri’s testimony wherein she said that on December 13, 2015, Vidhyadhar had called her and said that he had killed Hema and her lawyer on the instructions of Chintan.

Soon after hearing the revelations, Savitri suffered a heart attack and was taken to hospital by her nephew, Bahadur Rajbhar, the prosecutor said. “Savitri could have avoided deposition, but she came and testified against her own son. Hence, she is a material witness.”

Savitri also told the court that Vidhyadhar wanted to turn himself in to the police, but Chintan was threatening him to not do it, Bagade said.

The prosecutor further said that Pradeep Rajbhar, another accused in the case, had recorded his confession before a metropolitan magistrate out of his own guilt and it needed to be accepted as voluntary. Detailing the conspiracy, Pradeep claimed that Chintan had promised to give him ₹20 lakh if he killed Hema, Bagade added.

Meanwhile, the prosecution on Tuesday produced Bahadur Rajbhar before the trial court for his cross-examination by the defence lawyers.

Bahadur claimed that he was with Vidyadhar’s mother when she received the call from his son after the murders and could hear the conversation between them. However, the defence lawyers claimed that his statement was false.

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