The Bombay High Court on Wednesday admitted, for final hearing, an appeal filed by artist Chintan Upadhyay against his conviction for conspiring to kill his estranged wife Hema Upadhyay and her lawyer Haresh Bhambhani and abetting their murder in December 2015.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Gauri Godse also said it would hear Upadhyay’s application seeking bail and suspension of his life sentence after two weeks.
Bhambhani’s family members too have filed an application opposing Upadhyay’s appeal and bail plea.
A sessions court here earlier this month convicted Upadhyay and three others in the case, noting that the double murder was “brutal” but cannot be termed as a “rarest of rare” offence warranting death penalty.
Upadhyay in his appeal claimed that the trial court’s ruling lacked proper and cogent evidence and reasoning.
