Mumbai : Since the last four months, the family of Vidyadhar Rajbhar, who is the main accused in the Hema Upadhyay, has been forced to live with friends and neighbours in the area and depend on them for food and shelter.
Reason – their house, in which the murders of Hema Upadhyaya and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani had taken place – has been sealed off by the police and has not yet been returned to them.
According to Bahdur Rajbhar, who is Vidyadhar’s cousin brother, the place where the crime took place had their living quarters on the ground floor and a workshop on the loft. ”Ever since the day of the incident on December 12, the Kandivali police had taken over the place for their investigations and the family was not allowed to stay there,” he said.
In fact, the family extended all help and support to the police in their investigations and managed to stay with some neighbours in the area for that period, he said. “But it has been more than three months now and we are waiting to get the house back,” he said. Apart from his wife and six-month-old child, there is Vidhyadhar’s 65-year-old mother and his sister who are forced to manage since this period.
The problem is that even the neighbours are now finding it difficult to accommodate them since they have their own family to take care of. “It is for this reason that we have been requesting the Kandivali police to give us the place back so we can stay there and not request our neighbours to accommodate us,” Bahadur said.
Incidentally, the roof of the house is damaged and it is open and this needs to be repaired immediately, the cousin said. “Even in the last three months it must have got really dirty with pigeons and rats going in and out all time. But now with the monsoon coming up, we will have to get this repaired to save the furniture and other material in the house,” Bahadur said.
Even the machinery that is used for making dyes and other fabrication work is inside the house and he is not able to take up jobs due to this reason, he said. Some of the half finished projects are also inside the house and he keeps getting calls from his clients on when their work will get completed, he added.
When asked about this matter, a senior police officer connected with this case said that the family will have to approach the court and get its permission for its possession. ”However, this may take some time for them since the case has been recently transferred to the Crime Branch and they may want to visit the house again for getting some more clues or evidence in the case,” he said.
Since the main accused in the case, VidhyadharRajbhar is still absconding, and he was staying in this particular house, the place may be needed by the police for some more time for their investigations, he pointed out.
