4th suspect detained in double murder case

The Mumbai police on Monday detained a key suspect from Varanasi in connection with the double murder case of well-known installation artist Hema Upadhyaya and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani.

The suspect, Shivkumar Rajbhar alias Sadhu, was tracked down and detained by a Mumbai police team, which had rushed to the temple town on Sunday, following inputs that the culprits might have fled to UP. “We haven not arrested but detained Shivkumar Rajbhar alias Sadhu in Varanasi,” said Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Deven Bharti.

Police had on Sunday detained Azad Rajbhar, Pradeep Rajbhar and Vijay Rajbhar in connection with the sensational twin murder case from Mumbai. Based on inputs provided by the trio, the police detained Sadhu, who is suspected to have played a key role in the dual murder, police said.

The three detained from Mumbai are in the business of manufacturing and selling fibre glass, which was used by Hema and her estranged husband Chintan Upadhyaya, also an artist, for their installations, said an officer privy to details of the probe. Those detained had known Chintan for the last few years. One among them had phoned Hema before her murder, police said.

The bodies of Hema (43) and Bhambhani (65), their hands and feet tied, were found in cardboard boxes from a drain in Kandivali on Saturday.

Their body samples have been sent for chemical analysis and autopsy reports are awaited, a police officer said. “As per our probe their bodies (in boxes) were transported in a tempo from Juhu to Kandivali (W),” DCP (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni said.

The police have also quizzed the driver of the vehicle who dumped the boxes in the drain, thinking they contained broken antiques. His statement has been recorded, police said. The police had on Saturday recorded the statement of a watchman at Hema’s apartment on Juhu Tara Road and her domestic help Lalit Mandal.

Chintan, who was in Delhi and arrived in the city on Sunday, was also questioned by the Crime Branch.

The Baroda-born artist, who was locked in bitter divorce proceedings with her husband, had in 2013 filed a case against Chintan, alleging he painted obscene pictures of women on the walls of their home to harass her. Bhambani had represented Hema in the case. 

The police said Hema’s help had filed a missing complaint at the Santacruz police station on Saturday. Bhambhani’s daughter Anita had also filed a similar complaint at Matunga police station the same day. Hema was last seen by the watchman of her apartment building at 11 am on Friday.