'It was Chintan's plan to lure Hema to her death by promising sex tape'

While Chintan Upadhyay continues to deny any hand in the murder of his estranged wife Hema Updhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani, a detailed confession from one of the accused says otherwise. The confession clearly outlines how the accused lured Hema to the murder scene with the promise of giving her a sex tape of her husband with another woman - all of this was allegedly Chintan's masterplan.

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Pradeep Rajbhar (left) said that Chintan Upadhyay had plotted his wife Hema's murder

The 13-page confession was made before a magistrate by Pradeep Rajbhar, who used to work and live at the art workshop, Bansraj Art Company, where Hema and Harish were murdered on December 11, 2015.

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Pradeep said it was Chintan's idea to lure her there and murder her, since he was upset that she had filed a false complaint against him in court. Pradeep recalled how he was called to Jaipur on December 3 by the main accused Vidyadhar, who owns Bansraj Art Company. When he reached Jaipur station the next day, they went to Chintan's bungalow and met his father, who told them that Chintan would meet them in Mumbai instead.

Plan is revealed
So, on December 8, Pradeep, Vidyadhar and another accused Vijay Rajbhar (who ferried the corpses in his tempo and dumped them) went to Chembur to meet Chintan.

Vidyadhar had asked Pradeep to switch off his phone and hand it over. When they met Chintan, he asked Pradeep what he was doing at the time. Pradeep replied that he was out of work and badly needed money. Chintan then told him that he would get big money if he did a job for him.

When Pradeep asked Chintan what the work was, Chintan told him to call Hema and pretend that he was Mahendra Gupta, a cook working at Chintan's Jaipur bungalow. Chintan gave him precise instructions to tell Hema that ‘I (Pradeep/Mahendra) have taken three video clips of Chintan sleeping with a girl.'

Chintan said, "Agar tum Hema ka kaam kardoge, to tumhe bees lakh de dunga." Vidyadhar and Vijay replied, "Haan, ho jayega."

Pradeep told the cops that he asked Chintan for the reason behind the plan, to which Chintan allegedly said that Hema had filed a false complaint against him in court and, ‘due to that I (Chintan) am very upset.'

After Chintan left, Pradeep asked Vidyadhar and Vijay what the final plan was, to which Vidyadhar said ‘to murder Hema.'

Murders most foul
On December 10, Vidyadhar took Pradeep to Krushna Hotel and asked him to call to Hema. Pradeep called Hema and told her that he had three video clips of Chintan with another woman. He told her that she could have the videos for Rs 2 lakh. After some time, Hema called back and Pradeep told her to meet him at Bansraj Art Company.

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On the day of the murder, Vidyadhar took Pradeep to the warehouse, showed him two big crates and said that Hema and one man would be kept in the boxes. Vidyadhar then called Hema at 3:30 pm and informed her that Mahendra had arrived. Hema said she would reach by 8:30 pm.

She arrived with her lawyer Harish and they sat downstairs. Vidyadhar came up to them with a bottle in hand, and poured the contents into a handkerchief. He told the rest of the group to hold Hema and Harish down and then knock them out with the substance in the handkerchief. However, during this struggle, Vidyadhar hit his head on the corner of a table and suffered mild bleeding.

Once Hema and Harish fell unconscious, Vidyadhar fixed a tape around their hands, legs, mouth and eyes. Hema madam (as Pradeep kept referring to her) soon came to, and the Vidyadhar pressed the handkerchief down on her nose. When Pradeep touched her neck to check for her pulse, Hema had died.

Pradeep declared that both Hema and Harish were dead, and the accused - Vidyadhar, Pradeep, a minor accused, Shivakumar Rajbhar - packed the bodies in the cardboard boxes. Before that, they removed the belongings of Harish and Hema's rings and kept them in her white purse. Vidyadhar took a picture of Hema.

Vijay brought a tempo and they loaded the bodies on it. Vijay, Vidyadhar and Pradeep took Hema's car and parked it at a secluded spot in Charkop and then came back for the tempo. Vijay then took the tempo near a nullah in front of the Dahankarwadi Cemetery, and all the accused together dumped the bodies there. The next day, Vidyadhar paid Pradeep R2,000 and asked him to hide the evidence.

Two days later, Pradeep was arrested.