Hema Upadhyay-Haresh Bhambani murder case: Father of accused given last chance to bring tempo before court

The sessions court on Tuesday granted Ramadhar Sukhai Rajbhar, father of Vijay Rajbhar, one of the accused in Hema Upadhyay-Haresh Bhambani murder case, a final

The sessions court on Tuesday granted Ramadhar Sukhai Rajbhar, father of Vijay Rajbhar, one of the accused in Hema Upadhyay-Haresh Bhambani murder case, a final chance to produce before the court either the tempo used in the crime or photos of it.

Hema Upadhyay, Mumbai based artist, was murdered in 2015. (HT Photo)

Artist Upadhyay and her lawyer Bhambani were allegedly smothered with a chloroform-laced cloth at absconding co-accused Vidhyadhar Rajbhar’s warehouse on December 11, 2015. The killers packed their bodies in cardboard boxes and dumped them in a Kandivli sewer. The prosecution has alleged that Vijay’s tempo was used to transport the dead bodies.

During the investigation, police seized the tempo in front of independent witnesses. On October 21, 2016, Vijay’s father Ramadhar was allowed to take custody of the tempo.

However, when the court asked Ramadhar to produce the tempo, he could not and said that it had been sold by Vijay’s wife. After the submission, Ramadhar also failed to appear before the court for subsequent hearings. The court had issued a bailable warrant against him.

Meanwhile, special public prosecutor Vaibhav Baghade examined a close aide of Vidhyadhar who had accompanied him to Bengaluru in August 2016 to buy chloroform. “The witness has identified Vijay as the person working with Vidhyadhar,” Baghade said. As per the prosecution’s case, the accused had conspired to first sedate the victims with chloroform before killing them.