Slain artist Hema Upadhyay’s family is certain that the double murders were a well-planned conspiracy hatched at the behest of her estranged husband, Chintan Upadhyay. The motive, her family says, was simply to get rid of her and the lawyer, Harish Bhambani, was killed because he had accompanied her to accused Vidyadhar Rajbhar’s warehouse.
Chintan had been harassing Hema mentally for nearly a decade, says her family, but his final strike was unforeseen, unbelievable.
Deepak Prasad, Hema’s first cousin, while speaking to The Quint, said,
It was a cold war. Ever since they moved into the Juhu home in 2006, Hema was constantly harassed. Chintan would make her miserable. He served the divorce notice to her on their anniversary. She found the papers on her dining table when she woke up that morning. She couldn’t stop crying. “This is the best anniversary gift he could have given me,” she told me.
Prasad said Chintan would move among their common friends and speak ill of Hema to them. The friends, in turn, would keep taunting her. The artist eventually had to distance herself from everyone who knew both of them.
On two or three occasions, when their fights got ugly, he even threw her out of their Juhu home. Since Hema was aware of Chintan’s nature, she had continued to pay rent at the Borivali home where the couple was staying before moving to Juhu, and every time he threw her out of the house, she would stay at this apartment.
“There were so many things he did just to trouble her. Since she did not have kids, I told Hema to adopt a pet. She brought two street dogs home and would take care of them. Chintan knew how much she loved them, so in the next court hearing, he told the court that he was allergic to canines, that they were troubling him. And every time, he did these things around special dates, her birthday, anniversary, a major exhibition, a show in Europe. He wanted her to be upset,” Prasad said.
Chintan’s lawyer Mrinalini Deskhmukh refused to divulge any details since the probe was under way. She also clarified that she understands the allegations from the family but to accuse Chintan Upadhyay of murder is inappropriate. Deshmukh said,
All I can say right now is that the investigation is in progress. The police are trying their level best to come to the root of the matter and find out everything – who did it and what was the intention behind it.
‘No Impromptu Spat, It’s Cold-Blooded Murder’
Rubbishing the press reports and police’s claims that Hema and her lawyer were killed over an impromptu spat, Deepak Prasad said that the murders were pre-planned. He said that Hema did not owe any money to the main accused Vidyadhar, the motive which has been publicised in the media. He said that it was Hema who had loaned money to Vidyadhar for his ailing father’s treatment and that she hadn’t even worked with him in the past few years.
“When she was killed, Vidyadhar had phoned her saying that he was with a man from Jaipur, who had information against Chintan. When she asked him why he was sharing information against her ex-husband with her as he was close to Chintan, he said he was in need of money. He insisted that Hema meet him alone, but Hema made it clear that she wouldn’t come without her lawyer. That’s how Mr Bhambani, who was like a father figure to us, was also killed,” said Prasad. He continued,
It’s unbelievable that Hema was killed for Rs 5 lakh. She used to wear four rings worth Rs 15 lakh. If it was about the money, she could have just thrown two rings at him and walked off. All of this was planned well in advance and Chintan is the one who planned it.
Prasad also said that when he learnt that Hema was missing, he told his family to immediately get in touch with Chintan instead of calling Hema, whose phone was off. “Don’t you get it? She’s not coming back. Call him. It’s him,” Prasad fearfully told his family. But when they called Chintan, he said that Hema must have gone to a friend’s place.
A day before the murders took place, Chintan uploaded the song Alvida on his Facebook. When he was leaving the Juhu home the last time he was in Mumbai, he said bye to Hema before leaving. He never did that in the past. He knew all along; he had planned it. He had told me that he could go to any extent to separate from her, but we hadn’t expected him to do this. How could we have expected this? He’s an established artist, a public figure.
Deepak Prasad, Hema Upadhyay’s Cousin
The last time he spoke to Hema, Prasad said, was during Diwali this year. Hema, at the time, was extremely happy since the Bombay High Court had ordered Chintan to pay an amount for the maintenance of the couple’s Juhu home.
Prior to the order, Prasad said, Chintan had not been contributing to the expense. He had told the court that he did not have any money, although he had recently sold a flat in Baroda.
As for Chintan, his lawyer Mrinalini Deshmukh said, she hopes the truth will be unearthed.
“At this point of time, making any comments regarding the same would definitely amount to interfering in the process of investigations. My view as a lawyer and on a personal level is that the truth has to be unearthed, and let us give the police time to find out what it is rather than make speculations.”
Insecurities and Untruths
“There were several reasons for the spiralling trouble in their relationship. I can speak for Hema, and I know that she was extremely traumatised. She would get scared whenever he entered the room. She feared more trouble. He was jealous of her. He knew she was more internationally acclaimed than him, was financially sound, and never needed his help,” Prasad said.
He also recollected, “she once discussed a project concept with him, and before she knew it, he had stolen the idea and executed it. In another instance, he had a bad fight with her since she refused to ask her international curators to host his work.
He added, “Chintan is a two-faced man, I’ve known him for a long time, he has always been like that.
“Did you see him sobbing at the funeral? There were no tears, only noise. We know he is behind the murders; we are absolutely sure. We trust the Mumbai police; they have arrested four persons within a week, and we know they will get to Chintan too. But if they don’t, if we have to, we will approach the court, the CBI, whatever it takes to bring justice to Hema and Mr Bhambani.”
There are hundreds and thousands of divorces that take place, and take place between two people who do not get along. It doesn’t mean that people resort to this. I’m completely sensitive to their (Hema’s family) emotion because they have lost their daughter or near one, however, to attribute such things, in my opinion, may be a little inappropriate.
Mrinalini Deshmukh, Chintan Upadhyay’s Lawyer
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