For families of Hema and Harish, life hasn't moved on, even a year later

Time isn’t the best healer. For Bina Hirani and Anita Bhambhani, the pain is as raw as the day their lives crashed. Hirani (72), the mother of Hema, still breaks down each time she thinks of her daughter

Hema’s mother, Bina Hirani and Anita, Harish Bhambhani’s daughter

Time isn’t the best healer. For Bina Hirani and Anita Bhambhani, the pain is as raw as the day their lives crashed.

Hirani (72), the mother of Hema Upadhyay, still breaks down each time she thinks of her daughter. “It’s tough for a mother to deal with her daughter’s death,” says Manish, Hema’s brother, who lives in Vadodara. “Nobody can understand our loss.” The family visits Mumbai only during court hearings. Hema’s Jugu flat has been shut and her two dogs, Kismat and Lucky, are in the care of a friend.

Manish says the family is satisfied with the police’s investigation. “They could have done more in terms of finding Vidyadhar, though.”

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Anita (23), the daughter of deceased lawyer Harish Bhambhani, however, feels that justice will be served only if Chintan Upadhyay, Hema’s estranged husband, goes behind bars. “The loss is unbearable. My father did not have any role, except for helping his client, Hema Upadhyay, in the case. He was true to his profession and fought for his clients till the end. Although a workaholic, he devoted all of his post-work hours to the family.”

She raises the suspicion that Vidyadhar, the absconding prime accused in the twin murders, is being tipped off about the police’s hunt for him. “I feel somebody is feeding him information and helping him flee,” says Anita, who resides in Matunga with mother Poonam. “It’s been harder for my mother.”

She points out that her family didn’t seek the transfer of the case from the Kandivli police to the crime branch — a move that has drawn much flak from Hema and Chintan’s friends.

Sanchu Menon, a friend of Hema’s family who has been helping out with the case, too, questions the change of hands. “The Kandivli police were doing such a good job. The crime branch had earlier given Chintan a clean chit.”

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