Artist Chintan Upadhyay convicted for murder of wife, lawyer

A trial court in Mumbai convicted artist Chintan Upadhyay for the sensational murder of his estranged wife Hema Upadhyay and the latter’s lawyer Haresh Bhambhani.

Hema (43) and Bhambani (65) were murdered on December 11, 2015.

Chintan and four others Azad Rajbhar, Pradeep Rajbhar and Vijay Rajbhar and Shivkumar Rajbhar alias Sadhu – all part of a fabrication unit – were arrested by the Mumbai Police.

The prime suspect in the case, Vidyadhar Rajbhar, a metal fabrication artist, who the police claimed had carried out the murders at the behest of Chintan, has remained untraceable since the crime.

The crime came to light on 12 December, 2015, when two bodies wrapped in plastic and packed in separate cardboard boxes were found dumped in an open drain at Dahanukarwadi in Kandivali here. The bodies were identified as those of Hema and Bhambhani.

Police had claimed that Hema and Chintan, married in 1998, were in a legal battle over divorce and alimony - for the past five years and there was dispute among them over a flat in Juhu.

As far as the Rajbhars are concerned, since both of them were artists they knew them and they were basically metal fabricators working for the couple.