Mumbai : Even as the Kandivali Police have been claiming that chloroform was used to sedate well known artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani before they were murdered, the forensic report has not shown the presence of this chemical in their bodies.
Hema and the lawyer were found dead in a nallah at Laljipada, Kandivali(W) and the police had first arrested some of the workers who were working for Vidyadhar Rajbhar, the person who did the fabrication work for her. However, the main accused, Vidyadhar managed to give the slip to the police and he remains untraceable till date.
Later, the Kandivali Police also arrested Hema’s husband, Chintan Upadhyay and charged him with conspiracy to the murder. He was arrested on the basis on some diary entries that he had made and also on the basis of the statement made by the mother of the main accused person. Further, the police had said that they had traced a person in Bangalore who had sold chloroform to Vidyadhar which was used to sedate the victims and then kill them.
Sources said that the team of doctors that had carried out the autopsy examination had preserved viscera samples from the bodies of the deceased persons and this was sent to the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory to know if there was any chemical or poison present in their bodies. “But the medical report has not found the presence of chloroform or any or chemical in their bodies,” a senior forensic doctor said. However, it is possible that they tried to sedate them with chloroform, but the victims fell unconscious just by the act of their breathing process getting blocked.
The final cause of death has been given as `death due to smothering with evidence of injuries on the body’ and this has already been submitted to the Kandivali Police. There are injury marks on the bodies of both the victims, though the marks on the lawyer’s body are more serious.”It seems that the assailants have first killed the lawyer since he tried to resist them and they targeted him,” sources said. After subduing him, the assailants then turned to Hema Upadhyay and smothered her to death.
Further, the fact that their hands were tied when their bodies were found does not mean that this was done before they were killed, sources said.”
From the nature of the marks around their wrists, it appears that their wrists were tied after they were killed so that they could be easily put inside the boxes before disposing them.
When queried about this, Assistant Police Commissioner, BR Patil, said that all this is part of their investigations and he declined to discuss the details. However, the 1658 page charge sheet has already been filed and the case will come up for hearing in due course of time, he said.
