Mumbai double murder: Sessions court rejects Chintan Upadhyay’s bail plea

The Dindoshi sessions court on Thursday rejected the bail application of artist Chintan Upadhyay, who is an accused in the double murder case of artist wife Hema and her lawyer Haresh Bhambani. This was the second application by Chintan to have been rejected by the sessions court.

The prosecution on October 25 closed the arguments opposing the bail plea of the artist.

In its argument, the prosecution submitted a 14-point rebuttal to the Chintan’s bail. One of the arguments was that the police have found a Facebook post where Chintan uploaded a song entitled ‘Alvida’, a day before the murders. The prosecution’s reply also states that he had illegitimate affairs with other women, something which led to fights between the couple.

“From the diaries recovered from Chintan’s house, it has been established there was a dispute between Hema and him and that it is the main reason for the duo’s murders,” the prosecution told the court. According to the prosecution’s case, the police have also recovered sketches from Chintan’s Delhi residence. Following the arrests of accused people in the killings, the investigating agencies also recovered two boxes from the crime scene, allegedly for dumping their bodies.

While the sessions court had heard the arguments based on Chintan’s bail plea filed on September 2, it is yet to pass an order on another application filed by co-accused Pradeep Rajbhar.

Rajbhar had filed an application claiming his confession was coerced.

Chintan was arrested on December 22 last year and is lodged in Thane central prison with other accused. Before his arrest, the police arrested Vijay Rajbhar, Shivkumar Rajbhar, Pradeep Rajbhar and a juvenile. Vidhyadhar, a key accused, is still at large.