A sessions court in Dindoshi has issued a bailable warrant against the father of an accused in the artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambani’s double murder case after the man failed to present a tempo, an important evidence in the case, before the court, for the fourth time.
When on Tuesday, the tempo which was allegedly used for the disposal of the bodies was not produced before it on the last date, the court had then directed the prosecution to produce photographs of the vehicle for identification by a witness. The court had relied on an apex court judgment which allowed the use of photographs in such cases. The prosecution on Friday told the court that it did not have photographs on record to produce for the purpose.
The Tata tempo belonging to accused Vijay Rajbhar had been given to his father Ramadhar Rajbhar by a 2016 order. The senior Rajbhar had made a plea to return the vehicle to the family as it is, he had claimed, the sole source of income.
The vehicle was to be produced before the court on November 6, by the accused’s father for identification by a panch witness. The court had issued him a notice for the purpose. The witness on that day identified a recovered Honda City of Bhambani which was allegedly driven off by the accused and abandoned. Ramadhar had on November 6 told the court that a family member had sold it to someone and he is not aware of its whereabouts. The court had given him a week’s time to produce the vehicle before it or pay the indemnity bond of Rs. 5 lakh as per conditions of the 2016 order.
Thereafter, on November 12 and again on November 24, Ramadhar was directed by the court to produce the vehicle before it. He did not remain present on both dates nor was the vehicle produced.
Hema Upadhyay’s estranged husband artist Chintan Upadhyay is an accused in the case among another four accused. The prime accused is absconding.
