Prime accused was indebted to Chintan for Rs 6L, say police 

Cops Don’t Buy Claim; Husband Still Under Lens 
Contemporary artist Chintan Upadhyay has not been given a clean chit in the double murders of his estranged wife Hema and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani, even as one of the accused was nabbed from Uttar Pradesh on Monday .In a joint operation, the UP special task force (STF) and the Mumbai police picked up Shivkumar `Sadhu’ Rajbhar (25) from Varanasi.Twenty-one debitcredit cards belonging to Hema and Bhambhani were recovered from him. This is the fourth detention, though the prime accused, Vidyadhar Rajbhar, who owns a warehouse in Laljipada in Kandivli (West), is yet to be nabbed. The police do not fully ieve Sadhu’s claim that believe Sadhu’s claim that the double murders were a consequence of Hema’s refusal to pay up Rs 5 lakh that she owed Vidyadhar for fabrication work. Only Vidyadhar can shed t on whether this indeed light on whether this indeed is the case or if they were contract killings at the behest of someone else. The bodies of Hema, an interna tionally acclaimed installa tion artist, and Bhambhani were found in a nullah in Kandivli (West) on Saturday evening. They were packed in cardboard cartons wrapped in white plastic. Investigations suggest that Hema was suffocated to death with a kerchief, and it was also how Bhambhani was probably killed.

“Sadhu’s statements have inconsistencies. He holds Vidyadhar responsible for everything,“ said Sujit Pandey , IG, UP STF. Sadhu told the STF that Vidyadhar is from a village in Varanasi. The other accused, except Sadhu, were employed at his warehouse.

“Sadhu said Vidyadhar claimed Hema was not clearing his dues for months and he met her a couple of times to demand Rs 5 lakh, in vain,“ an STF official said. Last Friday , Vidyadhar called Hema to his warehouse on the pretext of offering her “fresh evidence“ against her husband in a court case. He even sought to know what she was willing to pay for it. Hema said she would first meet him with Bhambhani. “When Hema and Bhambhani reached the warehouse, they were knocked out with a sedative (before they were killed),“ said an STF official. A tempo driver was paid to take the cartons to a nullah near Dahanukarwadi in Kandivli. He was told the cartons contained scrap.When he read news reports the next day , he realized he had ferried corpses. He went to the police.

By the time three of Vidyadhar’s aides, Azad, Pradeep and Vijay , all with the surname Rajbhar, were detained from his warehouse, Vidyadhar and Sadhu had left Mumbai by train. Vidyadhar got off midway and Sadhu went to Varanasi. The police hunted for Sadhu at Jaunpur and Mir zapur before nabbing him from his home in Kavirampur village. He will be brought to Mumbai on Tuesday .

From Hema’s cell call records, the police deduced that Vidyadhar had been calling her repeatedly for two or three days. “Vidyadhar had worked for Chintan for a long time before the latter moved to Delhi. Vidyadhar then started working for Hema. He was indebted to Chintan who had loaned him Rs 6 lakh when his father was unwell (he eventually passed away).Chintan had also sent him to Jaipur for advanced training in fabrication work. Only on Vidyadhar’s arrest can we find out if it was at anyone’s behest that the murder was co-mmitted,“ a crime branch official sa-id. The police are going through Chintan’s call records. Chintan came down to Mumbai and met the police on his own.

Vidyadhar’s warehouse, where the murders took place, is a cluster of rooms located in a narrow lane of Laljipada. The area is an industrial belt, which also has a sprawling slum. The warehouse, not far from a police beat chowky , has been sealed.

(Inputs from Rajeev Dikshit and S Ahmed Ali)

Dec 15 2015 : The Times of India (Mumbai)
Hema killed over Rs 5 lakh dues, says suspect held in Varanasi
MumbaiLucknow:
TNN
Cops Don’t Buy Claim; Husband Still Under Lens

Contemporary artist Chintan Upadhyay has not been given a clean chit in the double murders of his estranged wife Hema and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani, even as one of the accused was nabbed from Uttar Pradesh on Monday .In a joint operation, the UP special task force (STF) and the Mumbai police picked up Shivkumar `Sadhu‘ Rajbhar (25) from Varanasi.Twenty-one debitcredit cards belonging to Hema and Bhambhani were recovered from him. This is the fourth detention, though the prime accused, Vidyadhar Rajbhar, who owns a warehouse in Laljipada in Kandivli (West), is yet to be nabbed. The police do not fully ieve Sadhu’s claim that believe Sadhu’s claim that the double murders were a consequence of Hema’s refusal to pay up Rs 5 lakh that she owed Vidyadhar for fabrication work. Only Vidyadhar can shed t on whether this indeed light on whether this indeed is the case or if they were contract killings at the behest of someone else. The bodies of Hema, an interna tionally acclaimed installa tion artist, and Bhambhani were found in a nullah in Kandivli (West) on Saturday evening. They were packed in cardboard cartons wrapped in white plastic. Investigations suggest that Hema was suffocated to death with a kerchief, and it was also how Bhambhani was probably killed.

“Sadhu’s statements have inconsistencies. He holds Vidyadhar responsible for everything,“ said Sujit Pandey , IG, UP STF. Sadhu told the STF that Vidyadhar is from a village in Varanasi. The other accused, except Sadhu, were employed at his warehouse.

“Sadhu said Vidyadhar claimed Hema was not clearing his dues for months and he met her a couple of times to demand Rs 5 lakh, in vain,“ an STF official said. Last Friday , Vidyadhar called Hema to his warehouse on the pretext of offering her “fresh evidence“ against her husband in a court case. He even sought to know what she was willing to pay for it. Hema said she would first meet him with Bhambhani. “When Hema and Bhambhani reached the warehouse, they were knocked out with a sedative (before they were killed),“ said an STF official. A tempo driver was paid to take the cartons to a nullah near Dahanukarwadi in Kandivli. He was told the cartons contained scrap.When he read news reports the next day , he realized he had ferried corpses. He went to the police.

By the time three of Vidyadhar’s aides, Azad, Pradeep and Vijay , all with the surname Rajbhar, were detained from his warehouse, Vidyadhar and Sadhu had left Mumbai by train. Vidyadhar got off midway and Sadhu went to Varanasi. The police hunted for Sadhu at Jaunpur and Mir zapur before nabbing him from his home in Kavirampur village. He will be brought to Mumbai on Tuesday .

From Hema’s cell call records, the police deduced that Vidyadhar had been calling her repeatedly for two or three days. “Vidyadhar had worked for Chintan for a long time before the latter moved to Delhi. Vidyadhar then started working for Hema. He was indebted to Chintan who had loaned him Rs 6 lakh when his father was unwell (he eventually passed away).Chintan had also sent him to Jaipur for advanced training in fabrication work. Only on Vidyadhar’s arrest can we find out if it was at anyone’s behest that the murder was co-mmitted,“ a crime branch official sa-id. The police are going through Chintan’s call records. Chintan came down to Mumbai and met the police on his own.

Vidyadhar’s warehouse, where the murders took place, is a cluster of rooms located in a narrow lane of Laljipada. The area is an industrial belt, which also has a sprawling slum. The warehouse, not far from a police beat chowky , has been sealed.

(Inputs from Rajeev Dikshit and S Ahmed Ali)

MURDERS MOST FOUL – `Under-scanner’ Chintan breaks down at famed artist’s funeral
TNN
Chintan Upadhyay Had Known Key Accused Vidyadhar Rajbhar For Years. Estranged Couple’s Friends Recall Group’s Good Old Days

Chintan Upadhyay burst into tears a num ber of times even as the priest’s chanting rent the air at artist Hema Upadhyay’s funeral on Mon Hema Upadhyay’s funeral on Monday evening. Escorted to the Juhu crematorium by a crime branch team in a police vehicle, he was joined by his father, the artist Vidyasagar Upadhyay (68). There were also a hundred friends and well-wishers who came to pay their respects, refusing to speak to the media, even as cameras flashed non-stop at Chintan.The sight of Hema’s body , as it was brought out of the hearse, wrapped in a red chunari, caused eyes to well up. Hema’s mother was not present, and her brother Manish lit the pyre. “It’s so sudden. I’m still processing it,“ said Amir Rizvi, who and his wife had been close friends with Hema and Chintan.

“There was a time years ago when we had dinner together every night. I met Hema through a common friend even before I met my wife. She was in the same class as Hema and Chintan,“ recalled Rizvi.“The four of us had been the best of friends. We barely had money , but got so many great memories.“

Chintan and Hema were college sweethearts who tied the knot in 1998, twelve years before they headed for divorce.

The past few years saw the group’s bonds weaken due to conflicts between the Upadhyay couple. Among the reasons for the growing discord were undue family interference in their relationship, said Rizvi. “Hema and Chintan’s relationship began breaking because of that interference. And then, not a single family member tried to get them to reconcile.“ He recalls a meeting he had set up at a common friend’s home, which Hema, her brother and Chintan attended. “We tried to get Hema and Chintan to work out their differences and figure out a solution, but her brother insisted on speaking on her behalf. How can you have a proper conversation in such a situation?“ The conflicts grew and the couple eventually drifted away from their friend circle. “Despite the fact that both were into a divorce case, they still had some emotions for each other,“ said Chintan’s father, Vidyasagar, who rushed to Mumbai on Sunday evening after learning of Hema’s killing.

Lawyer Bhambani’s funeral was conducted at the Sion crematorium. “I remember him as a thorough gentleman,“ recalled advocate Kshitij Mehta. “We had worked together at advocate Godiwala’s chambers in 1978. He was sincere and immaculately dressed, with not a hair out of place.“ Bham bani kept to himself, said Mehta, and over the years the two gradually lost touch. Family friends said Bhambani had never received any threats and wondered why he had been targeted. “He got a call from Hema about fresh evidence cropping up against her husband and immediately left to meet her on Friday,“ said a relative. “He was passionate towards his work and always went by the book.“

Earlier on Monday , Bhambani’s daughter and Hema’s brother claimed their bodies from the Borivli post-mortem centre.

Hema had Dec 18 HC date against `divorce for cruelty’
Swati Deshpande
Mumbai:

If the artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani were not killed, their bodies bagged and left in a suburban ditch, they would have been in the Bombay High Court on December 18 fighting a maintenance plea. Hema had challenged a family court order that had held her to be cruel to her husband Chintan, also a painter, and dissolved their marriage.
Over a year ago, on October 29, 2014, the family court at Bandra granted Chintan’s plea for divorce on grounds of cruelty . Hema alleged he was “schizophrenic, sadist, a true hypocrite, with hollow ego and various phobias“. “Making of such defamatory and wild allegations against the spouse amounts to mental cruelty ,“ ruled the family court and dissolved their marriage. Chintan had filed for divorce in 2010, citing mental cruelty .She said he filed the “false case“ after first suggesting to her to end their 1998 marriage by mutual consent.She opposed the petition.

The Juhu flat where she lived is estimated to be worth Rs 3.5 crore.Chintan stayed mostly in Delhi but had a separate bedroom which he used when in Mumbai. In Hema’s written submissions before the fami ly court, she had said Chintan was unable to accept her `unprecedented’ success as an artist of international calibre with art shows abroad. The family court rejected her interim maintenance pleasaying she earned well as a self-employed person. Hema, af ter the divorce judgment, filed for permanent alimony at the family court where her petition is pending.The court directed Chintan to pay her Rs 16.5 lakh for the expenses she said she incurred on the joint home.

Chintan too alleged she was schizophrenic and very suspicious, cold and demeaning in her demeanour towards him. He said right from day two of their marriage solemnised in 1998, she demanded non-veg food from his vegetarian family , wore western clothes and refused to have a child. Hema strongly denied all allegations and in turn said her in-laws were ashamed of her identity because of her community and wanted her to supress it. The family court first attempted to help the couple resolve their conflict amicably . When that failed, it heard and decided the plea, it said, on merits. Chintan is a Gujarati from Rajasthan, while Hema was a Sindhi from Vadodara.

Chintan’s family court lawyer Mrinalini Deshmukh on Monday told TOI about the death, “It is extremely horrifying and justice has to be done to Hema and my lawyer colleague.“ She recalled Bhambhani as a gentleman who was mild-mannered in court as opponent and “accommodating“ if she was stuck at another hearing.

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