The saga of the tempo in which bodies of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambani were disposed of in 2015 continued on Tuesday before a Dindoshi sessions court conducting the trial.
The father of one of the accused in the case finally appeared before the court and sought ten weeks time to produce the vehicle for identification by a witness. Additional Sessions Judge SS Oza passed an order giving a last chance to produce the tempo within three days on December 11. The court noted that four accused are in jail in the case since 2016 and that the trial is time-bound by the apex court, while disposing the plea for ten-weeks time.
The court had on 27 November issued a bailable warrant against Ramadhar Rajbhar, father of accused Vijay Rajbhar in whose custody the Tata Tempo was given by court in 2016. The senior Rajbhar had pleaded that the vehicle, that is owned by his son, is the source of income of the family.
The court had early last month called for him to produce the vehicle before it, but he had appeared before it and said that his family member had sold it and he was not aware of its whereabouts. The court had then given him several opportunities to produce it, but neither he had appeared before the court, nor produced the tempo. It was then that the court had issued a bailable warrant against him. On Tuesday, he filed a plea through his advocate to cancel the warrant, which the court accepted.
Hema Upadhyay’s estranged husband artist Chintan Upadhyay is an accused in the case among another four accused. The prime accused is absconding.
