Artist Chintan Upadhyay withdraws interim bail plea in murder case of wife, her lawyer; sessions court in Mumbai asks prosecution to take steps to begin trial

Artist Chintan Upadhyay, the alleged key conspirator in the murder case of his wife Hema and her lawyer Haresh Bhambani, withdrew his plea for interim bail on Thursday.

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Hema and Bhambani were allegedly smothered to death by Vidhyadhar Rajbhar on December 11, 2015, with the help of other accused allegedly at Upadhyay’s behest. Their bodies were then dumped in cardboard cartons after being wrapped in plastic sheets. The next day, a garbage collector discovered the bodies, following which the police filed a first information report and began probe into the case. Upadhyay was arrested on December 22, 2015 for the murders. While Rajbhar continues to be absconding, the other accused in the case – Shiv Kumar Rajbhar, Pradip Kumar Rajbhar, Vijay Kumar Rajbhar and Azad Rajbhar were arrested during the probe.

Upadhyay’s plea for interim bail reached the sessions court last month and was scheduled for hearing on Thursday. However, his lawyer Bharat Manghani made an application to withdraw the plea.

“Chintan’s regular bail application is pending in the (Bombay) high court. This application was preferred through jail on April 2, soon after the lockdown imposed due to Covid-19. However, it was sent to the court quite late. Now, as the matter is pending before Bombay high court, we decided to withdraw the plea for interim bail and pursue his regular bail plea,” said Manghani.

The court also rejected the bail plea of Vijay Rajbhar.

The special court also asked the prosecution to bring witnesses before the bench to resume the trial in the murder case and to “take necessary positive steps to secure the presence of its witnesses and for production of accused person during the trial either physically or through video-conferencing.”

“We are ready to resume the trial. If the witnesses are available, we would make an attempt to examine him (Upadhyay) on the next date on Monday,” said special public prosecutor Vaibhav Baghade.

The prosecution has so far examined 10 witnesses. However, the evidence of one of the witnesses was partly recorded as he was not available on some occasions. The prosecution on Thursday informed the court that they would try to complete the evidence of the pending witness and with that resume the trial.

The court asked the prosecution to make the necessary arrangements for the trial through video-conferencing by using many of the available apps, if the witnesses cannot remain present (in court) due to the Covid-19 situation. The court also asked the prosecution to take the necessary steps pertaining to the absconding accused.