Artist Chintan Upadhyay Convicted For Conspiring To Kill Wife, Her Lawyer

A sessions court here on Thursday held artist Chintan Upadhyay guilty of conspiring to kill his estranged wife Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani, and abetting their murder.

Additional sessions judge S Y Bhosale of the Dindoshi court will hear arguments on the quantum of sentence on Saturday.

Three other accused, namely, Vijay Rajbhar, Pradeep Rajbhar and Shivkumar Rajbhar, were convicted of murder under Indian Penal Code section 302 and other relevant offences.

The prosecution said it will seek the maximum punishment of death for all the convicts.

Upadhyay was held guilty under IPC sections 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) and 109 (abetment). Following the conviction, Chintan Upadhyay, who was out on bail, was sent in judicial custody till Saturday.

Special public prosecutor Vaibhav Bagade told the media that he will be seeking capital punishment as one of the victims, Haresh Bhambhani, was a lawyer.

Considering the recent cases of assault on lawyers, the offence falls into the category of 'rarest of rare', and the ramifications of such incidents on the entire legal system have to be considered, he added.

Bhambhani's brothers Ramesh and Gopi Bhambhani said they wanted death sentence for the convicts. "The family members have suffered, his wife, two daughters have suffered. Since his death, we have not celebrated Diwali, Holi till today," they told reporters.

The prosecution examined around 50 witnesses during the trial. Chintan Upadhyay was the "pioneer of the conspiracy" to murder his wife Hema, an installation artist, and her lawyer as Chintan was "driven by hatred towards the duo," prosecutor Bagade had contended.

A complete chain of circumstances was proved against all the accused, the prosecution had claimed.

Hema Upadhyay and advocate Bhambhani were killed on December 11, 2015, and the bodies were stuffed into cardboard boxes and thrown into a ditch in suburban Kandivali.

Vidyadhar Rajbhar, who is accused of executing the murders, has been absconding.

Chintan Upadhyay was arrested soon after the murders for allegedly conspiring to eliminate his wife. He spent nearly six years in jail before being granted bail by the Supreme Court in September 2021.

The police were unable to crack the double murder and hence implicated him in a false case taking advantage of his and Hema's matrimonial dispute, Chintan had claimed in this final statement submitted to the court.

Chintan had no reason to eliminate his wife, and police extracted confession from co-accused Pradeep Rajbhar about the conspiracy through coercion, the defence had claimed.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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"India Is A Powerful Country, Growing Stronger Under PM Modi": Putin

Heaping praise on India, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the Indian leadership is "self-directed" and led by the country's national interests, according to Reuters. Speaking at an event, Vladimir Putin alleged that the West is trying to cast everyone "who is not ready to blindly follow these Western elites as the enemy".

"At a certain point in time, they tried to do the same with India. Now they are flirting, of course. We all understand this very well. We feel and see the situation in Asia. Everything is clear. I want to say that the Indian leadership is self-directed. It is led by the national interests. I think that those attempts make no sense. But, they continue. They are trying to cast Arabs as the enemy. They are trying to be careful, but overall, that's what it all boils down to," Vladimir Putin said.

The Russian President said countries such as India, Brazil and South Africa deserve more representation in the UN Security Council and added that the UN should be reformed but gradually, according to Reuters.

Calling India a "powerful country", Vladimir Putin said that it is growing stronger and stronger under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russia-based RT News reported.

"...India, more than 1.5 billion of population, more than 7 per cent of economic growth...that's a powerful country, mighty country. And it's growing stronger and stronger under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi...," Vladimir Putin said, according to a video shared by RT News.

Earlier on Wednesday, Vladimir Putin had called PM Modi a "very wise man", adding that India is making great strides in development under his leadership, RT reported.

Last month, too, he had praised PM Modi stating he was doing the "right thing" in promoting the Make in India programme.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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"With Team India At...": Sanju Samson's Post Takes Social Media By Storm

Sanju Samson has been the topic of several discussions among fans and experts alike after the wicket-keeper batter was left out of India's Cricket World Cup 2023 squad. He was a part of the Asia Cup 2023 squad as a back-up but he did not play any matches and had to return before the final against Sri Lanka. Ahead of the Cricket World Cup, India were in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala for their practice match against the Netherlands and there was a huge poster of Samson where the team was practicing. The cricketer posted the picture on his social media accounts along with a heartwarming message for his teammates - "With Team India @ Gods own country !!".

India's superstar cricketers endured a 3,400km (2,170 miles) cross-country journey to play a World Cup warm-up only for the match to be abandoned without a ball being bowled on Tuesday.

India were to face the Netherlands in Thiruvananthapuram, on the southern tip of India, but they were left kicking their heels due to torrential rain.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sanju V Samson (@imsanjusamson)

On Saturday, their scheduled game against defending champions England up in the north-eastern city of Guwahati was also washed out.

In total, the wet weather has so far forced three warm-up matches to be abandoned while three others have been rain-affected, leaving teams and players frustrated ahead of the tournament's start on Thursday.

The Netherlands have also had two washouts, including Saturday's match against Australia which ended in a no result when rain ended their chase in 14.2 overs.

That game was also played in Thiruvananthapuram, sparing the Dutch a fruitless trip to another venue.

However, the weather forecast for the rest of the week in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Dharamsala -- venues for first three days of the tournament -- is optimistic with sunshine instead of showers.

(With AFP inputs)

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"NewsClick Founder Pushed Disputed Territory Narrative For Kashmir": Cops

NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, who was arrested in a case filed under the anti-terror law following allegations that the portal received money for pro-China propaganda, allegedly conspired to peddle a narrative that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are disputed territories, the Delhi Police has claimed.

Mr Purkayastha and HR head Amit Chakravarty were arrested on Tuesday by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police.

In the remand application, the police said, "Secret inputs revealed that Purkayastha, Neville Roy Singham and some other Chinese employees of Singham-owned Shanghai-based company have exchanged mails which expose their intent to show Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not part of India."

"Such attempts by these persons reveal their conspiracy to peddle a narrative, both globally and domestically, that Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are disputed territories. Their attempts to tinker with the northern borders of India and to show Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as not parts of India in maps amount to an act intended towards undermining the unity and territorial integrity of India," the application stated.

It was also learnt that Gautam Navlakha, a shareholder in NewsClick, remained involved in anti-Indian and unlawful activities such as actively supporting banned Naxal organisations and having anti-national nexus with Gulam Nabi Fai, an agent of Pakistan's ISI, it stated.

It has also been learnt that foreign funds have been siphoned off by Mr Purkayastha and his associates, the police said.

According to the application, "The accused persons have also conspired to disrupt supplies and services essential to the life of community in India and abet damage and destruction of property by protraction of farmers' protest through such illegal foreign funding."

A false narrative was propagated to discredit the efforts of the Indian government to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the police said in its application.

It was learnt that Mr Purkayastha conspired with a group -- People's Alliance for Democracy and Secularism -- to sabotage the electoral process during the 2019 general elections. It was also learnt that People's Dispatch Portal, owned and maintained by NewsClick, has been used for intentionally peddling these false narratives through paid news in lieu of crores of rupees of illegally routed foreign funds as part of a conspiracy, it stated.

An analysis of e-mails shows that Singham, Purkayastha and Chakraborty were in direct contact with each other and were found to be discussing how to create a map of India without Kashmir and to show Arunachal Pradesh as a disputed area, the application stated.

To achieve the objective, the accused persons, in the guise of foreign funds, received more than Rs 115 crore, according to the application.

A raid was conducted on Tuesday at 88 locations in Delhi and seven in other states on the suspects named in the FIR and surfaced in the analysis of data, the police said.

The police applied for 15 days' police remand for both the accused and got their custody for seven days.

The police sealed NewsClick's office in Delhi, officials said, adding that 46 suspects were questioned and digital devices, including laptops and mobile phones, and documents taken away for examination.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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BJP Leader's Big Charge On Bihar Caste Survey. Tejashwi Yadav Reacts

Two days after the first instalment of data from the Bihar caste survey was released, the BJP kept up its insistence that there were errors, with party MP Ravi Shankar Prasad claiming that no one met him or his family to collect their information despite him being a resident of Patna.

The state public relations department countered, saying his and his family's data was collected as per norms. This prompted Mr Prasad to post that the form states that the head of the family's signature is a must, and his wasn't taken. 

The BJP leader's comments invited a strong reaction from Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, who said all those who have a problem with the survey data should ask the Prime Minister to get it conducted for the entire country. He also claimed that the BJP was trying to have its cake and eat it too, by both welcoming and criticising the survey 

Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Prasad said that while his party had supported the caste survey in Bihar, no enumerator had met him or his family to gather their information despite him being the Lok Sabha MP from Patna Sahib. He said someone had asked a person outside their house for the details and alleged that similar complaints had been received from many parts of the state.

He also repeated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charge that the ruling coalition in Bihar, which consists of the Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Congress and three Left parties, had got the survey done to create a divide in the country. He also demanded that the data be made public to ensure transparency. 

The state public relations department issued a rebuttal and said that the information from the MP was collected as per the laid-down norms and that the data could not be released as that would lead to privacy issues.

Escalation

Later in the day, Mr Prasad posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the signature of the house owner is a must as per the caste survey form, and his was not taken. He alleged that lakhs of people have similar concerns.

"How much importance should be given to the response of the Public Relations Department? My direct question is that, according to the caste survey form, the signature of the house owner is necessary but my signature has not been taken nor have I been contacted even though I am the head of the family. Lakhs of people in Bihar have similar concerns that they were not contacted by the surveyors and their signatures were not taken. Misrepresentation should stop," Mr Prasad posted in Hindi.

Asked about Mr Prasad's comments, Tejashwi Yadav, pointed out that all parties in Bihar, including the BJP, had supported the caste survey. He also slammed the party for both welcoming the survey and criticising it.

"The caste survey has been done and now some people are raising objections. They are welcoming the survey and objecting at the same time. If they have so many objections, why don't they ask PM Modi to get the Centre to do it? How long have we been making that demand? If they don't trust our survey, they should ask Modiji to get it done in the whole country, and, if not, at least in Bihar," Mr Yadav said in Hindi.

"All they have to do is add a column. Forget the caste census, they have not been able to conduct the normal Census since 2021. These people raise objections when someone gets the work done and praise the people who don't," the RJD leader mocked.

The data from the Bihar caste survey revealed that nearly 63.1% of the state's 13.1 crore population belongs to a backward class and roughly 85% are members of a backward or extremely backward class, or a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe.

The general category makes up just 15.5 per cent of the population. Among the Other Backward Classes, the biggest group is the Yadav community, which accounts for 14.27% of all OBCs.

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Pic Shows 'Swades' Actor, Husband At Ferrari Crash Site In Italy

A video of the aftermath of the supercar crash in Italy's Sardinia, in which two people died, has surfaced. The crash involved Gayatri Joshi and her husband Vikar Oberoi's Lamborghini, a Ferrari and a Camper Car. 

Gayatri Joshi starred alongside Shah Rukh Khan in ‘Swades', and her husband, Vikas Oberoi, is a Mumbai-based property magnate.

The occupants of the Ferrari died after their car was reportedly up in flames soon after the crash. The roof of the Lamborghini was ripped off, and the camper van tumbled due to the collision.

The Ferrari caught fire after the crash, leading to the death of Melissa Krautli, 63, and Markus Krautli, 67. 

Ms Joshi and her husband were physically unhurt after the massive collision but were visibly numb after seeing the tumbled van and the Ferrari in flames. Gayatri Joshi was sitting on the road, crying, while looking at the car that went off the highway.

The incident occurred during the Sardinia Supercar Tour, which features a luxury car parade from Teulada to Olbia.

A video, captured from the dash cam of another car, showed the disturbing video in which several sports cars followed each other. The blue Lamborghini in which Vikas and Gayatri were travelling steered left to overtake the van. 

The Ferrari, which was tailing the Lamborghini, went to the extreme left end of the road to go past the two vehicles but lost control and rammed into Lamborghini. 

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Ricky Kej Blames Trevor Noah For Bengaluru Show's Failure: ''If He...''

Three-time Grammy award-winning musician Ricky Kej on Wednesday slammed Trevor Noah in a lengthy social media post after the comedian posted a farewell note to sum up his 'Off The Record' India tour. Notably, the comedian's tour became a point of chatter and debate after both his shows in Bengaluru were junked due to audio issues at the venue. The comedian, in his post, promised to return to the city.

Mr. Kej, however, was not convinced by his note and partly blamed him for the show's failure. He noted that every ''responsible and caring artist'' does a thorough ''soundcheck" and ''venue recce'' before a show. Though the musician acknowledged event management-related problems, he said he was shocked that Mr. Noah did not personally conduct a ''reconnaissance'' of the venue, or communicate the technical requirements and specifications to event organizers.

''If Trevor Noah really bothered about his ticket-purchasing fans, then he would have made it a point to arrive earlier in the day (or the previous night) and personally carried out a reconnaissance of the venue, tested out his microphone and ensured that the sound was optimum. I am sure he does that at other prestigious venues all over the world, and I am shocked to realize he did not bother to do this in Bengaluru. This is the artist's responsibility. Every artist/comedian/band has personal sound requirements and preferences.. and to just show up for the event, without even checking your sound is hugely irresponsible,'' he wrote. 

See the tweet here:

While I do agree that there were many Event Management related problems in the Bengaluru show for @Trevornoah .. there is something known as a "Soundcheck" and "Venue recce" that every responsible and caring artist caries out before a show.
If Trevor Noah really bothered about… https://t.co/uzhjGyLcya

— Ricky Kej (@rickykej) October 4, 2023

Not stopping there, the musician mentioned other international artists who have had ''super successful events'' in Bengaluru because they ''worked with everyone involved to deliver a spectacular concert.''

''When Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, Metallica, Symphony Orchestras, Russel Peters, etc. have had super successful events in Bengaluru, why is Bengaluru being trashed now?'', he wrote.

''Trevor also attributed this incident to "India" as a whole, which is in very bad taste. This is definitely a case of terrible event management, but more importantly a very complacent and irresponsible artist with a complete disregard for his paying fans (and India).. who blames everyone and everything but himself,'' he concluded his long post. 

Mr Noah was to perform at the Manpho Convention Centre in Bengaluru last week as part of his 'Off the Record' tour. The organisers canceled both shows as there were audio issues at the venue. However, Mr. Noah apologised to his fans who came all the way to watch it and promised a full refund. 

He performed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Delhi-NCR on September 22, 23, and 24, and in Mumbai on September 30.   

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