The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to artist Chintan Upadhyay who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for abetting and conspiring to kill his estranged wife Hema Upadhyay in December 2015.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Vishwanath also suspended Upadhyay’s sentence pending a hearing in his appeal before the Bombay High Court.
Chintan Upadhyay Approaches The Supreme Court Of India After Bombay HC Rejects Bail Plea
Upadhyay approached the apex court after the high court rejected his bail plea on December 11, 2023. His advocate Bharat Manghani said that Upadhyay was convicted based on the confession and testimony of the co-accused, Pradeep Rajbhar, which was subsequently retracted. Apart from the said evidence, there is no other material to connect Upadhyay with the alleged offence.
Also, the appeal is not likely to come up for a hearing for a long time before the high court. Manghani pointed out that Upadhyay was released on bail by the apex court earlier pending trial, considering long incarceration.
Hema and her lawyer Harish Bhambani were allegedly smothered to death by Vidhyadhar Rajbhar on December 11, 2015, with the help of other accused persons. Rajbhar killed the duo allegedly at Upadhyay’s behest. The next day, a rubbish collector discovered their bodies stuffed in cardboard boxes in a nullah in Kandivali.
Upadhyay Found Guilty
On October 7, Sessions judge SY Bhosale found Upadhyay guilty of abetting and conspiring to kill Hema and sentenced him to life in prison observing that the murder was “brutal”, but it cannot be termed as “rarest of rare” which warrants a “death penalty only”. Sessions judge found three others – Vijay Rajbhar, Pradip Rajbhar, and Shiv Kumar Rajbhar, who hail from the same village – guilty of murdering Hema and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
Upadhyay challenged his conviction before the HC and sought bail. The high court rejected his bail plea observing that the confessional statement relied upon by the trial judge was proved by witnesses and corroborated by circumstantial evidence.
He then approached the SC. The HC has asked the lower court to decide on his bail condition.
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