Hema Upadhyay murder case: Accused says cops forced him to lie

In a sudden twist in the murder case of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambani, Pradeep Rajbhar — an accused who had turned approver — filed an application in the Dindoshi sessions court on Monday, claiming that the police had threatened and forced him to give a false statement before the magistrate. Anil Jaisingh Jadhav, Pradeep’s advocate, filed the plea in court number 9 of Justice F.M. Khawaja. Earlier, when the chargesheet was filed on March 11, it was revealed that Pradeep had turned an approver in the case under Section 164 of the CrPC.

The application, to which this newspaper has access, reads: The accused states, “Police was pressuring me to state false (information) so that it could implicate innocent people in the present case”. The accused states that later on the police gave the accused a written statement and asked him to depose as it is before the magistrate and, accordingly, the accused stated the same facts before the learned magistrate.

Mr Jadhav further claimed that Pradeep had had never wished to turn approver at any point in time. Later, the judge gave the next date — July 14 —for hearing the case, and directed the crime branch unit seven, the current investigation agency of the case, to file a reply.

Advocate Kadar Sayani, who is representing the Bar Association of Borivali and opposing relief to Pradeep, while arguing in the court, said that as the case had been transferred to the crime branch so there were chances that it could go to the special court and a supplementary chargesheet could be filed, so, as of now, the approver application should be heard on the next date.

Mr Sayani also opposed the application of Lavkush Sharma, who, on behalf of Savitri Rajbhar, mother of absconding accused Vidhyadhar, had demanded possession of her house. Mr Sayani argued that as the house was the scene of the crime it should remain sealed until the probe of the crime branch is completed.