Chintan Upadhyay gets life term for abetting, conspiring estranged wife’ murder

While the prosecution had sought the death penalty against Chintan and three other accused on Saturday, the court said that even though the offence was brutal, it did not fall into the category of being a “rarest of rare “case.

“It is…seen that the flat where deceased Hema and accused Chintan were residing was jointly owned by them. In case of death of Hema the property would go to Chintan. It is further seen that the petition for divorce on the ground of cruelty was filed by Chintan and the trial court has granted decree in favour of accused Chintan. But, Hema challenged the said order before the Hon’ble High Court and thus, Chintan was required to wait till the decision of Hon’ble High Court. These two circumstances are sufficient to infer the motive of accused Chintan to kill Hema,” additional sessions judge Shrikant Y Bhosale said in his order.

During the trial, 50-year-old Chintan had claimed in his defence that the police took advantage of their matrimonial dispute and falsely implicated him as they were unable to solve the case.

The bodies of Hema and her lawyer found on December 12, 2015.
The court observed that if there was no conspiracy to kill Hema, then the three other accused had no “independent motive” or reason to murder her.

The court also said that there was no conspiracy to murder Hema’s lawyer Bhambhani. “However, he was murdered only because, unfortunately, he accompanied Hema and found himself in a trap led by the accused,” the court said.

The court, in its 228-page order, has heavily relied on a confession given by Pradeep Rajbhar, which his lawyers had submitted was taken under pressure from the police and was retracted.

On October 5, the court had pronounced Chintan guilty on charges of abetting and conspiring the murder of Hema, under Section 109 read with 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The three others were found guilty on charges including section 302 (murder) of the IPC for smothering Hema Upadhyay and Bhambhani, wrapping their bodies in cardboard boxes before dumping them in a nullah in Kandivali on December 11, 2015.

It was alleged by the police that a conspiracy was hatched between absconding accused Vidyadhar Rajbhar and Chintan.

On Saturday, the prosecution led by Special Public Prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade sought the death penalty for the accused. The court, however, considered that none of the accused had any criminal antecedents.
It also considered that the three accused were of a young age.

“Their financial condition appears to be very poor, and that appears to be the sole ground that they agreed to commit the present offence. It does not appear that these accused are of criminal mentality and therefore, they committed this offence,” the court said adding that the offence was an “outcome of paucity of money” for them.

On Chintan, the court said that he too has no criminal antecedents and is an internationally-acclaimed artist. “It appears that at a particular point of time, to finish off all the problems relating to Hema once for all, a thought might have taken shape of determination to eliminate Hema. This thought was a result of particular period, which he was passing through,” the court said.

The three, who are currently, lodged in the Thane Central Prison, are likely to be transferred to another prison in the state housing convicts.

Family members of Bhambhani who were in court said that they were grateful to the judiciary for the order. “Our brother will never return but we are satisfied that the persons who killed him will be in jail for their lives,” Gope Bhambhani said.