Having taken into custody the fourth suspect Satyaprakash Rajbhar, alias Sadhu, in the double murder case of sculptor Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambani, the police on Wednesday questioned Hema’s estranged husband Chintan Upadhyay for the fourth consecutive day and continued their manhunt for the key suspect Vidyadhar Rajbhar, in their effort to establish the motive behind the crime.
Though they have more or less established as to how Hema and Harish were gagged to death and their bodies – packed in cardboard boxes – were dumped in a drain at Kandivli (west) on December 11 and identified the perpetrators, the investigators have not come to a conclusion as to the role played or otherwise by Chintan in the sensational crime.
Sadhu Rajbhar, who was arrested in Varanasi on Monday, was on Wednesday brought to Mumbai and produced before a Borivli Magistrate’s court, which remanded him in police custody till December 22.
In all, 24 debit, credit and clubs cards, belonging to Hema and Harish, have been recovered from Sadhu Rajbhar, who has reportedly confessed to his involvement in the sensational crime.
Sadhu Rajbhar is a key aide of Vidyadhar Rajbhar, who allegedly ordered the killing of Hema and her lawyer Harish following a financial dispute over a payment of Rs5 lakh with the artiste.
Sadhu Rajbhar who had told the media persons in Uttar Pradesh on Monday that it was he who had gagged Hema and her lawyer Harish and killed them on the night of December 11 and that he had committed the crime at the behest of his employer Vidyadhar, a fabricator having his unit at Kandivli in north Mumbai.
Vidyadhar has since been absconding. The Mumbai police had despatched several teams to various destinations outside Mumbai to track down Vidyadhar.
Even as the manhunt continues for Vidyadhar, the crime branch sleuths of the Kandivli are grilling late Hema’s estranged husband Chintan to both establish his role, if any, and to know more about Rajbhars who have allegedly eliminated Hema and her lawyer Harish.
The bodies of Hema and her lawyer Harsh were recovered from a drain at laljipada locality of Kandivli (west) in north Mumbai on Sunday. Wrapped in plastic sheets, the two bodies were found packed in card board boxes and dumped in a drain. The recovery came after a civic sweeper doing morning rounds found the boxes in a drain in laljipada locality at Kandivli (west) alerted the police.
The four arrested suspects -- Azad Rajbhar, Pradeep Rajbhar, Vijay Rajbhar and Sadhu Rajbhar had known both Hema and her husband Chintan.
Rajbhars are in the business of making sculptures and statues made of fibre glass which the Upadhyay couple used to purchase from them
The arrested persons have told the police that it was a dispute involving a sum of Rs 5 lakh that Hema had with the Rajbhars’ firm that had prompted Vidyadhar to order the killing of the high-profile sculptor-cum-painter and her lawyer Harish.
However, the investigators are in no mood to buy the “Rs5 lakh dispute” theory put out by the arrested accused. “We feel that there was much more sinister motive than somewhat financial petty financial dispute that Vidyadhar had with Hema. That we are trying to ascertain if Chintan had any role to play in the double murder and if no, we are trying to get as much of inputs as possible from Chintan as possible as to the reasons that could have prompted Rajbhars to eliminate Hema and Harish,” a senior police officer said.
The investigators believe that the absconding Vidyadhar Rajbar holds the key to the double murder. “Apart from being the master-mind, we expect him to tell us as to the actual motive behind the murder and if Chintan had any role to play in the crime,” the officer said.
The investigations have revealed that the ghastly crime was committed at Vidyadhar’s warehouse at Kandivli. Sadhu Rajbhar and other perpetrators used kerchief soaked in chloroform which was readily available at the warehouse to render the two unconscious. later, they allegedly tied the two and gagged them to death on the night of December 11.
The investigators attributed the presence of chloroform at the warehouse to the fact that Rajbhars would use this chemical to clean the moulds of fabricated installations they would make for Hema and her husband Chintan.
After killing Hema and her lawyer Harish, the perpetrators used card boxes available at the warehouse to pack the two bodies and transported them in a tempo. The boxes were dumped into an open drain in laljipada locality at Kandivli (west) in north Mumbai.
Given that the investigators have not yet given clean chit to Chintan, the strained relationship between him and his wife continues to be a factor in the crime.
The investigations have revealed that sometime in 2013, Hema had lodged a case under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, against her husband Chintan, alleging that he was painting obscene sketches on the walls of her room.