The Mumbai Police investigations into the murders of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambani are now focused on a workshop in Kandivali, where Hema used to work on her art. Investigators said Hema and Harish were believed to have been murdered there and several aspects pointed to the involvement of workshop personnel.
Shiv Kumar Rajbhar, a Mumbai resident, has been picked up in U.P. in connection with the murders.
Hema and Harish were last seen together leaving in his car from her Andheri studio, after which they went missing and were subsequently found dead.
Their bodies were seen in a sewage drain in Kandivali.
“The way the bodies were packed suggested involvement of people experienced in packing large size parcels in cardboard and plastic,” said a senior officer.
“Enquiries revealed that there was a workshop in Kandivali where Hema worked on her art, along with some workers for help, and stored these artworks,” he said.
The police also believe that Hema was the main target and Harish was killed because the killers did not want to leave any witnesses.
“There are some signs on Harish’s body that indicate severe assault, suggesting that he might have tried to save Hema and got hurt in the process. The exact cause of death will be clear once we receive the post mortem reports,” another officer said.
Many teams on the job
Currently, several teams from the Kandivali police station, along with two units of the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, are separately working on the case. While one team has been tasked with finding Harish’s car, which is still missing, the others are looking for workers from the workshop as well as others with whom Hema had dealings in the course of her work.
The police have also found a tempo driver in whose tempo the bodies were taken to the sewage drain and disposed of. The driver has said in his statement that the accused called him up and said the vehicle was needed to dispose of some waste material.
In a related development, a special task force of the Uttar Pradesh Police, in collaboration with the Mumbai Police, picked up Shiv Kumar Rajbhar from Varanasi. Rajbhar, a Mumbai resident who was missing since the bodies were found, was picked up from a village near the Babatpur airport in Varanasi. Police say the last call to Hema was made from his phone, which was then tracked through surveillance with the help of the U.P. STF. A medical test was conducted and the U.P. police have handed him over to the Mumbai police. Officials said 12 cards were found on him, including ATM cards and club membership cards belonging to Hema and Harish.
“Rajbhar has not been placed under arrest as yet. Our team is still doing its work,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Deven Bharti.
Meanwhile, the police said that so far the questioning has not pointed towards the involvement of Hema’s former husband Chintan. The police, however, are still continuing with their inquiries.
(Additional reporting by Omar Rashid)
