The police officer who investigated the murders of artist Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani told a court on Tuesday that he had not consulted an expert before claiming that the artwork of the prime accused, Chintan Upadhyay, reflected his mental state.
This revelation came during his cross-examination by the defence lawyers.
Atul Dahifade was one of the investigating officers who had searched Chintan’s house in Delhi after his arrest on December 26, 2015, and had seized seven diaries – four black and three red, 74 sketches, and four small canvases. Chintan is Hema’s estranged husband.
On January 20, the officer was called for examination by special public prosecutor Vaibhav Baghade. In his deposition before additional sessions judge Shrikant Y Bhosale, Dahifade said he had “seized the sketches and the diaries since he thought that the sketches reflected the mental state of the accused”.
The prosecution claimed that there were inscriptions on the back of each canvas and read them aloud as kaali zuban, mama khoon, sunny days, and popcorn man. The prosecution’s examination continued on Tuesday as well.
When Dahifade was asked by advocates Raja Thakare and Bharat Manghani, representing Chintan, if he had made an independent inquiry into the nature of Chintan’s artwork, he replied in negative. When he was further asked if any enquiry was made with other artists to understand the concept of Chintan’s art, Dahifade again said he did not carry out any such thing.
The defence then claimed that Dahifade used false evidence to book Chintan in the murder case. The officer, however, denied the allegations.
It is the prosecution’s case that Chintan was disturbed by his discordant relationship with Hema and hired Vidyadhar Rajbhar, a fabrication artist, to carry out the murders.
Rajbhar, however, has never been arrested, and no one knows about his whereabouts. Three others who allegedly worked with him at the fabrication unit – Pradeep Rajbhar, Azaad Rajbhar and Shivkumar Rajbhar – have been arrested and are facing trial.
