Eight years after the murder of artist Hema Upadhyay and lawyer Harish Bhambhani, a sessions court in Mumbai found artist Chintan Upadhyay guilty on charges of abetting and conspiring the killings.
The artist was arrested on December 28, 2015, and sent to judicial custody on January 4, 2016. Mr. Upadhyay has been charged with the murder of the duo, along with charges for causing disappearance of evidence of offence, as well as giving false information to screen or protect an offender. Hema and Harish’s bodies were found on December 11, 2015, stuffed inside two cardboard cartons dumped in a drain in Kandivali.
On Thursday, additional sessions judge S.Y. Bhosale convicted Upadhyay, Pradip Rajbhar, Vijay Rajbhar, Azad Rajbhar and Shivkumar Rajbhar. While Mr. Upadhyay has been on bail since 2021, the Rajbars have languished in judicial custody.
Upadhyay has been convicted of abetting and conspiring the murders, and the other three were found guilty of murder. The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on October 7. Special public prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade examined 56 prosecution witnesses and sought maximum punishment for the convicts.
Hema had alleged in her affidavits in the Family Court and the Bombay High Court that she was abused physically and mentally by Upadhyay, and added his “motive was to kill her.’‘
