Prime suspect in Mumbai double murder case detained

The prime suspect in the Mumbai double murder case of well-known painter Hema Upadhaya and her lawyer was today detained by Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force in Varanasi, a senior officer said in Varanasi.

"Mumbai police shared some information on the basis of which Shiv Kumar alias Sadhu Rajbhar, a resident of Badagaon, Varanasi, has been detained by UP STF," IG (law and order) A Satish Ganesh told reporters in Varanasi.

He said documents related to the victims were recovered from the possession of Shiv Kumar who has been taken into custody.

"He will be handed over to Mumbai police team which has already arrived here. The Mumbai police will probably produce him in court tomorrow," the IG said.

Ganesh said details of the case would be shared by Mumbai police which was investigating the matter.

Police are also ascertaining whether Kumar was the last person to call Hema.

Three suspects were on Sunday detained in Mumbai in connection with the case.

The bodies of Hema and her lawyer Harish Bhambhani were found packed inside cardboard boxes lying near a drain in suburban Mumbai on Saturday.

According to police, Hema's domestic help had filed a missing complaint at Santacruz police station on Saturday after she did not return home whole of Friday. Bhambhani's younger daughter Anita had also filed a similar complaint at Matunga police station the same day.

Hema was last seen by the watchman of her apartment building at 11 am on Friday. According to Anita, Bhambhani had left his King Circle home in Matunga to meet Hema at around 6.30 PM on Friday.

Investigators said Bhambhani met Hema at her art studio in Andheri around 8.30 PM on Friday before talking to his wife on phone. Thereafter the Bhambhani family could not establish any contact with him despite calling him several times.

Police suspect that an unidentified person known to the duo had called the lawyer to give fresh evidence in a property dispute involving Hema, who was suspected to have been strangled with Bhambhani by the perpetrators of the crime.

Additional Commissioner of Police (North Region) Fatehsingh Patil claimed his team was "very close" to cracking the case.

Police said Bhambhani's car, in which he had left for the meeting, is still to be traced.