Double murder case: 3 detained; Mumbai police leaves for UP

MUMBAI: Three suspects have been detained in connection with the double murder case of well-known painter Hema Upadhaya and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani here even as a team from Mumbai police left for Uttar Pradesh based on inputs that the culprits may have fled to the state.

The trio, identified as Azad Rajbhor, Pradeep Rajbhor and Vijay Rajhbor were detained yesterday from the city, a senior police officer told PTI today.

They are in the business of manufacturing and selling fibre glass, which was used by Hema and her husband Chintan Upadhyaya for their installations, said the officer, privy to details of the probe.

The interrogation of the detainees is still underway, the officer said.

They knew Chintan for the last few years, as he is also a painter, and used to order the fibre glasses for his paintings, said police sources.

One among them had called Hema on her mobile phone before her murder on Saturday, police said.

Meanwhile, a team of Mumbai Police has gone to Uttar Pradesh as they suspect that the culprits must have fled to that state and taken shelter there.

According to police, bodies of Hema (43) and Bhambhani (65), with their hands and feet tied with ropes, were recovered from a drain in suburban Kandivali on Saturday night after locals and a ragpicker first spotted two card board boxes (in which the bodies were stuffed) and informed cops.

Their body samples have been sent for chemical analysis and their autopsy reports are awaited, the senior offical said.

"As per our probe their bodies (in boxes) were transported in a tempo from suburban Juhu to Kandivali (W)," said DCP (Detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni today.

In this connection, police have also quizzed the transporter, who confirmed that he dumped the two boxes in a nullah in Kandivali on Saturday afternoon thinking that it contained broken antiques.

The statement of the transporter has been recorded, they said.

Also, police on Saturday recorded the statement of the watchman at Hema's apartment in Juhu Tara Road and her domestic servant Lalit Mandal.

Besides, Hema's husband Chintan, who was in Delhi and arrived in the city yesterday, was questioned by the Crime Branch.