3 sent to police custody over twin murder

The Mumbai police on Tuesday arrested three more people in connection with the double murder of installation artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambani but have not yet stumbled upon any clue to the whereabouts of prime suspect, Vidyadhar Rajbhar alias Gotu. Vijay kumar Ramadhar Rajbhar, Pradip Kumar Pannala Rajbhar and Azad Bhujarat Rajbhar will be produced before the Boriwali court today for remand. A manhunt was launched for Vidyadhar soon after Sadhu was detained by the UP Special Task Force in Varanasi on Monday following a request by Mumbai police. The fourth accused, Shivkumar “Sadhu” Rajbhar, who was nabbed from Varanasi on Monday, will be brought to Mumbai from Uttar Pradesh and will then be formally arrested here. He also told the police that men from Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai were also involved in the murder. After the arrest of Sadhu, police arrested three persons in this case who were already detained.

The corpses of Hema and Bhambhani were found in a nullah at Kandivali west on Saturday evening. Police said the arrest of Vidyadhar, a resident of Shamsi Housing Society in suburban Kandivali, would shed light if the murder was a fallout of a financial dispute between him and Hema, or whether it was a contract killing allegedly involving some other motive. However, the police do not believe this as the only reason.

Sadhu had gone public with the claim that the two were killed under instructions from Vidyadhar. “We are conducting further inquiries”, said Deputy Commissioner of Police Vikram Deshmane, Zone XI.

“I gagged Hema and her lawyer before killing them both”, Rajbhar reportedly told police in his confessional statement.

Investigators said Bhambhani met Hema at her art studio in Andheri around 8.30 PM on Friday before talking to his wife on phone.

Upadhyay had in 2010 filed for divorce from an estranged Chintan, accusing him of domestic violence. 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.

Three persons, including Hema’s husband Chintan Upadhyay, were detained and quizzed by the police on Sunday.