The main suspect in the Hema Upadhya murder case – Sadhu Rajbhar – has been arrested in Varanasi. Sources told India Today that Rajbhar has confessed to his crime. Rajbhar and one another man were arrested by a Special Task Force (STF) team and are being questioned further about their role in the sensational double murder. ATM cards of both Hema and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani have also been recovered from Rajbhar, a top UP STF official told India Today.
“I gagged Hema and her lawyer before killing them both,” Rajbhar reportedly told police in his confessional statement.
Rajbhar is said to be the last person artist Hema Upadhyay had spoken to before she mysteriously disappeared on Friday evening.
Mumbai police will be taking Hema Upadhyay murder case suspect Sadhu Rajbhar to Mumbai tomorrow where he is likely to be produced before magistrate.
The mutilated bodies of painter Hema Chintan Upadhyay and her advocate Harish Bhambhani were found dumped in a Kandivali drain on Saturday evening.
Hema Upadhyay’s husband Chintan Upadhyay
Police said Hema and her advocate’s last known mobile phone locations were between Charkop and Kandivali, where the bodies were found. Both phones were switched off around 8.30 pm on Friday. Hema used to store her works at a godown in Charkop. Reports say that a man named Gotu, who is the owner of the Charkop godown, was also under police scanner. According to sources, Hema and Gotu had a dispute over Rs 5 lakh.Three persons, including Hema’s husband Chintan Upadhyay, were detained and quizzed by the police on Sunday. Hema was going through divorce battle with her artist husband Chintan Upadhyay since 2010.
Chintan was quizzed all day Sunday. He told the police that he hadn’t spoken to her recently. Bhambhani was representing Hema in a complaint of harassment she had filed against Chintan in 2013 for painting obscene sketches on the walls of their Juhu flat.
[“source-Indiatoday”]