Palwal horror: Ex-soldier clubs 6 to death with rod
Kapil, a neighbour of the accused’s inlaws, said he was attacked by the ‘killer’ but managed to save himself
PALWAL/FARIDABAD: A 43-year-old former soldier bludgeoned six people to death with an iron rod in a late-night killing spree in Haryana’s Palwal town on Monday, police said.
The accused, Naresh Dhankar, is a sub-divisional officer (SDO) with the Haryana government’s agricultural department in Bhiwani. In 2003, he had taken voluntary retirement from the army as a lieutenant. Dhankar allegedly went about killing anyone he could find on the street in Palwal, about 60km from Delhi.
While three of his victims were watchmen, Dhankar also entered a hospital, where he allegedly killed a woman attending to her sick relative. Five of the victims were found dead within a 400-metre radius of the local police station. Locals said two dogs were also found bludgeoned to death in the area, though police could not confirm Dhankar’s involvement.
Dhankar was caught by a police team around 7.15am on Tuesday, when he was reportedly chasing his seventh victim on the street outside his in-laws’ home, barely 300 metres from where he had killed one of the victims.
Dhankar allegedly attacked the police team but suffered a brain haemorrhage when police retaliated. Referred to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital after treatment at a Faridabad hospital, he remained unconscious at the time of going to print, police said.
Family members of Dhankar’s wife Seema alleged that he was “mentally ill” and would physically and mentally abuse her. The murders were apparently triggered by a ruckus outside his in-laws’ house on Monday night.
“The serial killings happened after Seema’s family refused to allow him to enter their home around 11 pm on Monday. He left the neighbourhood while hurling abuses at his wife, but that was his usual behaviour,” said neighbour Kapil Vikal, a private firm manager who barely escaped death hours later.
The exact sequence of events or the order of killings remains unclear as there were no eyewitnesses to the six murders, police said. But the first of the six bodies was discovered around 2.30am.
A passerby made a call to the police after noticing the bloodied body of a guard, 35-year-old Munshi Ram, by the roadside in Moti Colony. “We had barely moved him to a hospital when we received a call about another body in Palwal Hospital, barely 100 metres from where the first body was found,” said an investigator.
At the hospital, Dhankar killed Anjum, a 30-year-old woman who was attending to her sister-inlaw. The woman was sleeping on a bench outside the ICU.
CCTV footage captured at 2.34am showed Dhankar, armed with an iron rod, walking into the lobby of the hospital, a private healthcare centre located around a kilometre from where his wife’s parents live. Afraid that a serial killer was on the loose, police circulated the suspect’s visuals and launched a manhunt.
As the police searched for the killer, they stumbled upon more bodies. One was of an unidentified man, found outside the walls of the Palwal City police station; the other of a 43-year-old guard, Shiv Nath, found outside a restaurant across the police station.
The fifth victim and sixth victims were a 52-year-old guard Seeta Ram and Khemchand, 46.
FIVE OF THE VICTIMS WERE FOUND DEAD WITHIN A 400METRE RADIUS OF THE LOCAL POLICE STATION. THE ACCUSED, NARESH DHANKAR, WAS CAUGHT BY POLICE
NEW DELHI: On Tuesday, Kapil Vikal could have ended up being the seventh victim of Naresh Dhankar’s killing spree in Palwal, if not for his prompt action.
“I was used to Dhankar creating a ruckus outside his in-laws’ home every few weeks. On Monday night too, Dhankar created a scene, abusing his wife and in-laws who refused to let him in. He left a little before midnight,” recounted Vikal, a neighbour of Dhankar’s in-laws. He works as a manager with an automobile firm.
Vikal added that he was woken up around 6.30am on Tuesday by a loud rattling of his iron gates. “Dhankar was back. He was shouting abuses at his wife and rattling on my gates, urging me to let him in,” Vikal said.
Vikal refused to oblige, prompting Dhankar to resort to requests and pleadings. “Dhankar told me he was dying due to the cold. He begged me for a cup of tea. I took pity,” said Vikal.
But as soon as Vikal had unlocked the gates, Dhankar tried to barge in. “It was then that I noticed the heavy iron rod in his hand. His clothes were covered in blood. He took a swipe at my hand with the rod and left me injured. But I managed to push him out and lock my gates again. He then broke an iron piece from my gate and hurled it at me from outside,” recounted Vikal.
Vikal, who was alone at his house at that time, immediately tried to call the police, but failed to get through. So, he called one of his friends and urged him to bring a police team. Dhankar, meanwhile, had walked over to a neighbouring street, allowing Vikal to come out of his house and keep an eye on him.
But the moment Dhankar saw him outside, he chased him with the rod in his hand. “He kept shouting that he was going to kill me. I could have been his seventh victim, had he not missed by a fraction of a second,” said Vikal.
Vikal later gathered a few neighbours and ensured that the killer did not leave the area. It was around 7.15am that three police vehicles finally rolled into the neighbourhood.
“When the police arrived, Dhankar ran into a house that was open. Fortunately, there was no one inside. When the policemen tried to restrain him, he attacked one of them with the rod. The police immediately responded and beat him up with their lathis, with one of the policemen even whipping out his gun,” said Vikal.
Before Dhankar could be overpowered, he reportedly made a last ditch attempt to escape by jumping into a drain flowing in the neighbourhood. He, however, was overpowered, taken into custody and booked for murder.
› His clothes were covered in blood. He took a swipe at my hand with the rod and left me injured. But I managed to push him out and lock my gates again... He kept shouting that he was going to kill me.
KAPIL VIKAL