Mumbai : A Magistrate Court on Wednesday extended the custody of the four accused in the twin murders of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bambhani. Mumbai police sought an extension on their police custody, a day after the arrest of artist and Hema’s husband Chintan Upadhyay in the same case.
The accused — Azad, Pradeep, Vijay and Shivkumar Rajbhar — were presented in court on Wednesday. Their police custody has been now extended till December 28.
The four of them worked with the main accused — Vidyadhar Rajbhar — who ran a fabrication unit that made the installations used by Hema for her work. He was also employed by Chintan for the same.
Kandivali police, which arrested Chintan on December 22, questioned him for over a day and then arrested him. They suspected that he was involved with main accused Vidyadhar in a conspiracy to murder Hema. Chintan was involved in a bitter divorce battle with Hema and was also fighting a harassment case filed by her. She had claimed that Chintan had sketched obscene images of women on the walls of their bedroom to harass her. The police are still trying to ascertain if Chintan had a motive for murdering his wife. He has been remanded to police custody till January 1.
While five people have been arrested for the twin murders, police officials are yet to catch the main accused, Vidyadhar. Police sources say that Pradeep, Azad and Shivkumar were instructed by Vidyadhar to scare Hema and Bambhani.
