In a gruesome double murder, artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambani were found dead in Kandivali on Sunday.
The police has listed 30 witnesses in the case including absconding accused Vidyadhar's mother who has allegedly named Chintan in her statement.
Shivkumar Rajbhar told police that he and four others eliminated the duo in Mumbai after Hema defaulted on a payment for an idol made by his employer, Vidyadhar alias Vidya, a metal fabrication artist who is missing and is prime suspect.
"A police team left for UP to trace the culprits, as it suspects that they must have fled to that state," a senior police official said on Monday.
Chintan Upadhyay, estranged husband of artist Hema Upadhyay, was on Tuesday arrested in the double murder case of his wife and her lawyer in suburban Kandivali in Mumbai and sent to police custody till January 1 by a Mumbai court.
A sessions court in Mumbai on Thursday convicted artist Chintan Upadhyay for abetting and conspiring to kill his wife wife Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani.
Hema and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani were killed on December 11, 2015, and the bodies were stuffed into cardboard boxes and thrown into a ditch in Kandivali area of Mumbai.
The Supreme Court Friday granted bail to artist Chintan Upadhyay, arrested in connection with the murder of his artist wife and her lawyer in 2015, noting that the petitioner has been in custody for nearly six years.
A local court on Friday denied the police the permission to conduct a narco analysis test on artist Chintan Upadhyay, arrested in connection with murders of his estranged wife Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani, after he refused to give his consent for the procedure.
Chintan Upadhayay, the estranged husband of artist Hema Upadhyay, plotted the murder of his wife as he apparently wanted to get rid of the court cases that he was fighting with her, the police said on Wednesday.
Sadhu Rajbhar, who is the main suspect of the murder case, was the last man to have contacted Hema.
In a new twist to the double murder case of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani, the role of a sixth suspect is being probed even as fresh leads suggest that the prime accused Vidyadhar Rajbhar, who is on run, is preparing himself to surrender before police, a senior officer said.
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