Mumbai artist’s hubby remanded till January 1

Chintan Upadhyay, estranged husband of slain artist Hema Upadhyay, was on Tuesday arrested in connection with the twin murder case in suburban Kandivali and sent to police custody till January 1 by a Mumbai court.

Chintan, also an artist, was “ prime suspect” in the murder case of his wife and her lawyer Harish Bhambani.  

During questioning, Chintan said that he had met the absconding accused Vidyadhar Rajbhar at an undisclosed location and hatched a conspiracy to kill the duo, police told the court. 

Chintan was under scanner after bodies of Hema (43) and Harish (65) wrapped in plastic and packed in separate cardboard boxes were found dumped in a drain in suburban Kandivali on December 12. 

Besides Chintan, the police have arrested four persons in the case — Azad Rajbhar, Pradeep Rajbhar, Vijay Rajbhar and Shivkumar Rajbhar alias Sadhu — and have booked them for murder and causing disappearance of evidence. Based on leads provided by the accused during their sustained questioning, teams of Mumbai Police are still searching locations in and outside Maharashtra to dnab Vidyadhar, who used to make the material required by Hema for her work. 

Hema, Baroda-born artist, was locked in bitter divorce proceedings with Chintan. Harish had represented Hema in this case.