Rambahadur has not appeared before the court when summoned on the last three occasions.A sessions court on Friday issued a bailable warrant against the father of an accused in the double murder case of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani.
The warrant was issued against Rambahadur Rajbhar after he failed to appear before the court. Rambahadur, father of accused Vijay Rajbhar, had in 2016 moved an application seeking the custody of his tempo – allegedly used by the accused to dispose the bodies after the murder.
The court had allowed Rambahadur to take custody of the tempo by paying an indemnity bond of Rs 5 lakh. It also directed him not to sell it as it is part of evidence. Rambahadur, last month, had told the court that his daughter-in-law had sold the vehicle.
Special Public Prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade told the court on Friday that as no photographs were taken of the vehicle, witnesses in the case cannot identify it. Maintaining that Rambahadur will know about the tempo’s whereabouts, Bagade sought a warrant against him.
Rambahadur has not appeared before the court when summoned on the last three occasions.
The two bodies were found in a nullah in Kandivali on December 12, 2015. The Mumbai Police had arrested four persons, including Hema’s husband, artist Chintan Upadhyay. Another accused, metal fabrication artist Vidyadhar Rajbhar, who the police claimed had carried out the murders at the behest of Chintan, is still absconding.
The police had also claimed that the motive behind the murders was a domestic dispute between Chintan and Hema. Chintan has maintained that the police have no legally admissible evidence and insufficient circumstantial evidence, like entries made in his personal diary, against him to prove his guilt.