Artist Chintan Upadhayay convicted for abetting and conspiring to kill wife, her lawyer

PTI, Oct 5, 2023, 2:13 PM IST

A sessions court here on Thursday convicted artist Chintan Upadhyay for abetting and conspiring to kill his wife wife Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani.

The others accused – Vijay Rajbhar, Pradeep Rajbhar, Shivkumar Rajbhar and Azad Rajbhar – were convicted on charges of murder.

Hema Upadhyay and Bhambhani were killed on December 11, 2015, and the bodies, stuffed into cardboard boxes, were found in a ditch in Kandivali area of Mumbai.

Additional Sessions Judge S Y Bhosale, of the court in suburban Dindoshi, held Upadhyay guilty of abetting and conspiring to kill his wife and her lawyer.

The court will hear arguments on the quantum of sentence on Saturday.

The prosecution, in its final submission, argued that Chintan Upadhyay was the ”pioneer of the conspiracy” to murder his wife and her lawyer.

Chintan was driven by “hatred” towards the duo, special prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade alleged.

Bagade said he would seek maximum punishment for the convicts.

Vidyadhar Rajbhar, who is accused to executing the murders, has been absconding.

Chintan was arrested soon after the incident for conspiring to eliminate his wife. He spent nearly six years in jail before being granted bail by the Supreme court in September 2021.

In his final statement submitted before the court, Chintan had claimed the police were unable to crack the double murder and hence implicated him in a false case taking advantage of his and Hema’s matrimonial dispute.

The defence lawyer also said Chintan had no motive for committing the crime.