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  Court allows sealing of flat, not studio

Court allows sealing of flat, not studio

Published : Feb 10, 2016, 6:23 am IST
Updated : Feb 10, 2016, 6:23 am IST

Borivali Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Tuesday ordered sealing of the Juhu flat jointly-owned by deceased Hema Upadhyay and her estranged husband and accused in the murder of Hema and her lawyer, H

Borivali Metropolitan Magistrate Court on Tuesday ordered sealing of the Juhu flat jointly-owned by deceased Hema Upadhyay and her estranged husband and accused in the murder of Hema and her lawyer, Haresh Bhambhani, Chintan Upadhyay. The court however rejected the plea to seal Hema’s studio based in Lakshmi Industrial Estate, Andheri west.

On January 25, Chintan had filed an application in court, asking for sealing of the flat and studio. Thereafter, the court ordered the public prosecutor and investigating team to file a reply on January 27. Hearing of the case was scheduled for February 8 and accordingly, on Monday, the magistrate reserved the order for Tuesday.

Chintan’s lawyer, Advocate Amarendra Mishra, told The Asian Age, “The court considered our application to seal the flat while our application to seal the studio was rejected.”

Earlier, Hema’s brother, Manish Hirani, filed an intervention on Chintan’s application but it was rejected on February 2. Mr Hirani informed the court that the studio belongs entirely to Hema and she had purchased it in late 2007. The court rejected Mr Hirani’s intervention application saying the case was between Chintan and the public prosecutor.

Chintan’s friends said that they applied for sealing the flat as they feared it was accessible to Hema’s relatives and chances were they could plant something to frame Chintan. The flat housed on the first floor of Mittal Oceanic Tower on Juhu Tara Road is jointly owned by Hema and Chintan.