Accused tells court he confessed under pressure from police

MUMBAI: In a fresh twist in the Hema Upadhyay-Haresh Bhambani double murder case, one of the accused Pradeep Rajbhar told the sessions court he confessed under duress.

MUMBAI: In a fresh twist in the Hema Upadhyay-Haresh Bhambani double murder case, one of the accused Pradeep Rajbhar told the sessions court he confessed under duress.

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Pradeep had recorded his confession before a magistrate under provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The Kandivli police, while filing the charge sheet in May, had attached Pradeep’s confession, in which he stated he committed the crime on the directions of He ma’ s estranged husband Chintan Upadhyay.

Pradeep’s advocate Anil Jadhav submitted his application before the Dindoshi sessions court on Monday.

“The police machinery pressurised him and threatened his family to get the confession. He is not willing to give any such confession,” said Jadhav.

While hearing the matter, additional sessions judge Farooq Khwaja directed the investigating officer of crime branch, unit 7, to file a reply. The case was transferred to the Mumbai crime branch after an order by police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar.

Pradeep’s father is a constable in the police force in Uttar Pradesh. After dropping out of school after Class 8, Pradeep moved to the city and began working at wanted accused Vidhyadhar’s warehouse where he made sculptures.

In the charge sheet, the Kan div li police submitted V id hy adhara long with Pradeep, Shivkumar and the minor accused killed Hema and Bhambani at the Charkop warehouse on December 11 last year.

Their bodies were dumped in a nearby drain and recovered a day later.