Haven’t received Rajbhar’s statement: Chintan’s lawyer

Almost three months after the chargesheet was filed in the murder case of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambani, it has come to light that the defence team has not received the approval statements of one of the accused yet.

A lawyer of Chintan Upadhyay, the main accused, stated in the Dindoshi court on Monday that he had not received the statement of Pradeep Rajbhar, an accused who had turned approver in the case under Section 164 of the CrPC.

On Friday Chintan, along with Shivkumar, Pradeep and Vijay Rajbhar were produced in the Dindoshi sessions court for regular court produce process. On that day, their judicial custody was extended to July 2. Earlier on May 1, Chintan’s team of lawyers had filed an application opposing handcuffing Chintan when he visited court. According to the lawyers, it was the violation of Supreme Court guidelines, which the jail authorities were requested to follow.

Following this, Savitri Devi Rajbhar, mother of main accused Vidhyadhar Rajbhar, filed an application in court to give them back possession of their house.

The Rajbhars’ warehouse-cum-home is in Laljipada, Kandivali, where the murder had occurred. Savitri Devi’s lawyer Lavkush Sharma stated that she was staying at the house of an acquaintance, as they had no other shelter apart from the seized house.

Opposing these arguments, advocate Kadar Sayani said the house was a murder spot so it should be under the possession of investigation agency only, as the probe is on. Judge F.M. Khwaja said the matter would be heard on June 14.