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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Strict security measures in place in Mumbai for Messi's events at 2 venues Dec 14, say police
Mumbai (PTI): In view of Argentine superstar footballer Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai on Sunday, the city police are implementing stringent security measures, like not allowing water bottles, metals, coins inside the stadiums and setting up watchtowers to keep an eye on the crowd, officials said.
The police also said taking extra care to avoid any stampede-like situation and to prevent recurrence of the chaotic situation that unfolded in Kolkata during Messi's visit on Saturday as thousands of fans protested inside the Salt Lake stadium here after failing to catch a clear glimpse of the football icon despite paying hefty sums for tickets.
Messi is expected to be present at the Cricket Club of India (Brabourne Stadium) in Mumbai on Sunday for a Padel GOAT Cup event followed by attending a celebrity football match. He is expected to proceed to the Wankhede Stadium for the GOAT India Tour main event around 5 pm.
"In view of Lionel Messi's visit to Mumbai, the police are geared up and have put in place a high level of security arrangements in and around the stadiums located in south Mumbai. Considering the chaos that prevailed in Kolkata and the security breach, we have deployed World Cup-level security arrangements at Brabourne and Wankhede stadiums," an official said.
Expecting heavy crowd near the stadiums during Messi's visit, the city police force has deployed more than 2,000 of its personnel near and around both the venues, he said.
As the Mumbai police have the experience of security 'bandobast' during the victory parade of ICC World Cup-winning Indian team and World Cup final match at the Wankhede Stadium, in which over one lakh cricket fans had gathered, we are prepared to handle a large crowd of fans, he said.
"We are trying to avoid the errors that occurred in the past," the official said.
There is no place to sneak inside the stadiums in Mumbai like the Kolkata stadium, according to him.
The police are also asking the organisers to provide all the required facilities to the fans inside the stadium, so that there will be no chaos, he said, adding the spectators have purchased tickets in the range of Rs 5,000 to 25,000. After paying so much of amount, any spectator expects proper services, while enjoying the event, he said.
The police are expecting 33,000 spectators at the Wankhede Stadium and over 4,000 at Brabourne Stadium. Besides this, more than 30,000 people are expected outside and around the stadiums just to have a glimpse of the football sensation, he said.
The organisers responsible for Messi's India visit recently came to Mumbai to discuss security arrangements. During the meeting, the Mumbai police asked them not to take the event lightly, according to the official.
After those requirements were fulfilled, the final security deployment was chalked out, he said.
Police has the standard procedure of the security arrangements inside the Wankhede Stadium, where people are barred from taking water bottles, metals objects, coins. Police are setting up watch towers near the stadiums and there will be traffic diversions, so that there is maximum space available to stand, according to the official.
Police are also appealing to the spectators to use public transport service for commuting and avoid personal vehicles to reach south Mumbai.
To avoid any stampede-like situation, police are also taking precautionary measures and will stop the fans some distance ahead of the stadium and public announcement systems will be used to guide the crowd. Barricades will be placed at various places to manage the crowd.
In case the crowd swells up beyond expectation, the police will divert people to other grounds and preparations in this regard underway, he said.
Additional police force has been deployed in south Mumbai to tackle any kind of situation, he said.
