Mumbai Double Murder: Friends Defend Chintan Updhyay on Facebook

Chintan Updhyay has said he paid Vidyadhar to spy on Hema.

Artist Chintan Upadhyay. (Photo: Chintan Upadhyay’s Facebook page)

Artist Chintan Upadhyay, accused of planning the murder of his wife Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani, has been getting strong support from his friends and the artist community on Facebook.

Chintan’s friends say the allegation that Chintan was fed up of Hema demanding more alimony is preposterous, and are blaming the media for its ‘biased’ coverage.

<p>Media is the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.</p>

<p>Unnati Singh, Chintan’s friend</p>

New Details Emerge

Chintan Upadhyay (centre) with Hema Upadhyay (right) along with their friends at MSU faculty of fine arts, Baroda (Photo: Syed Amir Abbas Rizvi’s facebook page)

Chintan has been under intense interrogation by the Kandivali police over the last 10 days and is being considered a prime accused. However, there is evidence to boost his claim that he is being framed for the murders.

Chintan was out of town at the time of the murders. Although he was questioned by crime branch officials in the immediate aftermath, he was given a clean chit by them.

<p>Chintan was in touch with Vidyadhar but we found nothing suspicious in his recent activity or interaction with him. Chintan was satisfactorily able to explain what was asked of him. Maybe the Kandivali police obtained some new evidence in the last few days. We interrogated Chintan for eight days and gave him a clean chit two days before the Kandivali police arrested him.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Crime branch officer told <i><a href="http://www.mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/crime/Hema-Upadhyay-murder-Has-Chintan-been-made-a-scapegoat/articleshow/50317575.cms">Mumbai Mirror</a></i></p>

Police sources say that Chintan admitted he paid some money to Vidyadhar but claimed it was for a different purpose. He reportedly told the police that Hema spied on him and obtained records of the sales of his paintings which were then used in the court and he was spying on her through Vidyadhar in a similar manner. 

Although Chintan was suspected to have met the accused on the last day of his stay in Mumbai, his close friend Sanjeev Khandekar told the police that Chintan was with him on the afternoon of December 8 and hired a cab for airport in the evening as he had to catch a flight to Delhi, reports Mumbai Mirror.