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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Shakib Al Hasan banned from bowling in ECB-run competitions for "illegal bowling action": Report
London, Dec 13: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan has been banned from bowling in all competitions organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after his action was deemed illegal during independent testing, according to a report.
The 37-year-old, who has retired from Tests and T20Is, was reported for his bowling action by on-field umpires Steve O'Shaughnessy and David Millns during a one-off appearance for Surrey in the County Championship in September.
Following this, an independent test at Loughborough University earlier this month confirmed his action was illegal, and he will need to undergo a reassessment to lift the suspension, the report said.
For the reassessment, Shakib’s elbow extension must be below the 15-degree threshold set by the regulations.
"The suspension is officially dated from December 10, the date when the ECB received the results of the assessment from Loughborough University," according to the ESPNcricinfo report.
Shakib had a standout performance in that match against Somerset in September, taking nine wickets for Surrey in Taunton. This was his first County Championship appearance since a brief stint with Worcestershire in 2010-11.
Shakib has not played any international cricket since deciding not to return to Bangladesh for what would have been his farewell Test against South Africa in Mirpur, following protests in Dhaka.
Shakib, who has scored 4609 runs and taken 246 wickets in 71 Tests, 7570 runs and 317 scalps in 247 ODIs, and another 2551 runs and 149 wickets in 129 T20Is for Bangladesh, has not returned to his home country since the ousting of the Awami League government. He is currently based in the USA with his family.
