Mumbai: Baroda born and Mumbai based artist Hema Upadhyaya, 45, and her lawyer, Haresh Bhambani, 65, were found dead at Kandivali West on Saturday night, reports the Times of India.

Hema lived alone in Juhu. Her domestic help told the police that she did not return home since Friday. A missing complaint was registered on Saturday at the Santa Cruz police station.

Bambhani had told his family that he was going to meet a client on Friday. When his family did not hear from him till night, they registered a missing complaint at Antop Hill police station.

The bodies were wrapped in plastic and placed in a cardboard box. Bambhani was gagged, his mouth was taped and his arms were tied behind his back. An autopsy was carried out at the Borivali post-mortem centre on Sunday. Bhambani's car is missing, police said.

The Mumbai Police are questioning Hema's estranged husband, artist Chintan Upadhyay–against whom she had filed a harassment case–and her domestic helps. Harsh Bhambani, 65, was representing her in the case, reports NDTV.

Ms Upadhyay, 43, had got married to Chintan Upadhyay in 1998. In 2010, they had filed for divorce.

The harassment case was filed two years ago. In her complaint to the police, Ms Upadhyay had accused Chintan Upadhyay of painting obscene sketches on the walls of her room in their Mumbai apartment.

A well-known artist, Ms Upadhyay had won awards from the Gujarat Lalit Kala Academy and the national Lalit Kala Academy.