Artist Chintan Upadhyay gets life imprisonment for hatching conspiracy to kill wife Hema
Mumbai (PTI): A sessions court here on Tuesday sentenced artist Chintan Upadhyay to "rigorous imprisonment for life" for conspiring to kill his estranged wife Hema Upadhyay.
Rejecting the prosecution's demand for death sentence, the court, in the judgement, noted that Chintan was an acclaimed international artist who did not have any criminal antecedents.
While seeking to "finish off all the problems relating to Hema once for all, a thought might have taken the shape of determination to eliminate" her, said additional sessions judge, Dindoshi court, S Y Bhosale in his judgement.
On October 5, the court had held Upadhyay guilty of abetting and conspiring to kill his wife, who too was an artist.
On Tuesday, the sentence was passed.
Three co-accused, namely, tempo driver Vijay Rajbhar and helpers Pradeep Rajbhar and Shivkumar Rajbhar, found guilty of murdering Hema and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani, too were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life.
The court order noted that the flat where Hema and Chintan were residing was jointly owned by them. In case of Hema's death, the property would have gone to Chintan.
While Chintan had filed a petition for divorce on the ground of cruelty which the family court granted, Hema challenged it before the High Court, and thus, Chintan was required to wait till the HC decided the matter, the sessions court said.
These two circumstances were sufficient to infer the motive to kill Hema, it said.
But the case was not "rarest of rare" (which warrants capital punishment), and hence it was awarding the punishable of life sentence, the court said.
The other three accused had no criminal antecedents and were young, the judge said, adding that Shivkumar had just completed 18 years of age when the crime was committed.
"Their financial condition appears to be very poor, and that appears to be the sole ground that they agreed to commit the present
offence," the judge said.
Chintan Upadhyay had crossed 50 years of age and was well-off; he was also an internationally acclaimed artist, the court noted.
"He has no criminal antecedents. It appears that at particular point of time to finish off all the problems relating to Hema once and for all, a thought might have taken shape of determination to eliminate Hema," the court said.
This thought was the result of the particular period he was passing through, it added.
"Thus, there appears less possibility that they (the four convicted accused) would commit any offence in future. In other words, the possibility of reformation of these accused is high," it said.
The court held though "the act of the accused was brutal, the case cannot be termed as a rarest of rare case which warrants death penalty."
Hema Upadhyay and advocate Bhambhani were killed on December 11, 2015, and the bodies were stuffed into cardboard boxes and thrown into a ditch in suburban Kandivali.
Vidyadhar Rajbhar, who is accused to executing the murders, has been absconding.
Chintan Upadhyay was arrested soon after the murders for allegedly conspiring to eliminate his wife.
He spent nearly six years in jail before being granted bail by the Supreme court in September 2021.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
