3 detained in artist, lawyer murder case

Mumbai

Three suspects have been detained in connection with the double murder case of well-known painter Hema Upadhayay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani here even as a team from Mumbai police left for Uttar Pradesh based on inputs that the culprits may have fled to the state. The trio, identified as Azad Rajbhor, Pradeep Rajbhor and Vijay Rajhbor were detained on Sunday from the city, a senior police officer said. They are in the business of manufacturing and selling fibre glass, which was used by Hema and her husband Chintan Upadhyay for their installations, said the officer, privy to details of the probe. Meanwhile, a team of Mumbai Police has gone to Uttar Pradesh as they suspect that the culprits must have fled to that state and taken shelter there. According to police, bodies of Hema (43) and Bhambhani (65), with their hands and feet tied with ropes, were recovered from a drain in suburban Kandivali on Saturday night after locals spotted two card board boxes (in which the bodies were stuffed) and informed cops.