Mumbai: Four accused in Hema Upadhyay-Haresh Bhambhani murder case sentenced to life imprisonment

Chintan Upadhyay at a local court in Goregaon, Mumbai on 10 October 2023. Pic/ Sayyed Sameer Abedi.

A local court in Mumbai on Tuesday sentenced all four accused in Hema Upadhyay-Haresh Bhambhani murder case to life imprisonment.

The court had on Thursday convicted artist Chintan Upadhyay for abetting and conspiring to kill his wife Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani in the Hema Upadhyay-Haresh Bhambhani murder case.

The court convicted the accused Vijay Rajbhar, Pradeep Rajbhar, and Shiv Kumar Rajbhar under sections 302, 202, 201, 404, and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Also read; Hema Upadhyay-Haresh Bhambhani murder case: Court convicts Chintan Upadhyay, other accused

Similarly, Vijay, Pradeep, and Chintan Upadhyay were convicted under sections 120B, 109, 302, and 34 of the IPC and were also sentenced to life imprisonment.

Additionally, Vijay, Pradeep and Shiv Kumar were sentenced to 7 years of imprisonment under sections 201, and 34 IPC.

Hema Upadhyay, an installation artist, and her lawyer Bhambhani were murdered in December 2015 and their bodies were stuffed into cardboard boxes and thrown into a ditch in Kandivali area of Mumbai. Her estranged husband and artist Chintan Upadhyay is accused of conspiring to have them killed. Chintan had been on bail and was present in the court when the conviction was pronounced.

Earlier, the sessions court in suburban Dindoshi had completed a hearing of the final arguments and reserved the matter for judgment last month.

The prosecution, in its final submission had 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, claimed special prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade.

Hema and Bhambhani were killed on December 11, 2015, and the bodies were stuffed into cardboard boxes and thrown into a ditch in suburban Kandivali.

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

Chintan Upadhyay was arrested soon after the murders for allegedly conspiring to eliminate his wife. He later got bail.

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, Chintan's lawyers argued.