Palwal horror: Ex-soldier clubs 6 to death with rod
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, Na re sh D hank ar, is a sub-divisional officer (SDO) with the Haryana government’s agricultural department in Bhiw a ni. In 2003, he had taken voluntary retirement from the army as a lieutenant. Dhankar allegedly went about killing anyone he could findon thestreet in Palwal, about 60km from Delhi.
While three of his victims were watch men, D hank ar 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 D hank ar’ 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 ha em or rh age 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 D hank ar’ 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
FIVE OF THE VICTIMS WERE FOUND DEAD WITHIN A 400METRE RADIUS OF THE LOCAL POLICE STATION. THE ACCUSED, NARESH DHANKAR, WAS CAUGHT BY POLICE
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 neigh bo ur hood while hurling abuses at his wife, but that was his usual behaviour ,” said neighb ourKapilVik al, 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 bodyofaguard,35-year-oldMunshi 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,” saidan investigator.
At the hospital, D hank ar killed Anjum,a30-year-oldwomanwho was attending to her sister-inlaw. The woman was sleeping on a bench outside the ICU.
CCTV footage captured at 2.34 am showed D hank ar, armed with an iron rod, walking into the lobby of the hospital, a private healthcare centre located around a ki lo met re 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, Sh iv Na th, 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.
NEW DELHI: Fear and panic gripped residents of Palwal town on Tuesday morning.
The locals had woken up to WhatsApp texts about a serial killer on the loose in their neighbourhood and also found police teams warning people to stay indoors.
A 43-year-old government official went on a killing spree in Haryana’s Palwal town, bludgeoning six persons to death with an iron rod in a two-hour-long mayhem in the early hours of Tuesday.
Such was the panic that many people decided to alter their routines with some even skipping their morning walks. Parents refused to allow their children to go out for tuitions or sports coaching.
Mohammad Naushad, a mechanic who lives a few metres from one of the murder spots, said he woke up to a phone call from his relative who asked him to stay indoors. “Someone sent me photos of the killer through WhatsApp. I circulated it to other relatives and friends in Palwal,” said Naushad.
Jawahar Singh Dagar, a gov- ernment school teacher, initially thought that the WhatsApp forwards were a rumour until he found a police gypsy shouting out warnings through a loudspeaker. “They kept announcing that a psycho with an iron rod was on the loose. They announced that the man had already killed six people and warned us to not let our children out,” said Dagar.
A few residents did dare to venture out and help police in the manhunt, but dense fog hampered the search operation. “I accompanied a police team during the search, but it is scary that something like this could happen in the heart of the town. Most of the killings happened outside the police station,” said Vikram Sharma, who lives next to the Palwal Hospital, where one of the murders took place.
Throughout Tuesday, residents hopped from one murder spot to another. The largest crowd had gathered outside a restaurant, where the scattered remains of a security guard was still visible in a pool of blood in the evening.
But the community left most scarred by the serial killings were the security guards of the town. Of the six persons killed in the early hours of Tuesday, three were security guards sitting outside. Two of them were keeping themselves warm with burning coal when they were attacked.
“My family has said that they won’t allow me to continue in this job. I tried telling them that this was an one-off incident,” said Raju Sharma, a guard outside an automobile showroom.
“It is not worth the risk,” said Rakesh Kumar, another guard.
According to a statement issued by the Haryana Police, Dhankar’s killing spree on Tuesday was during an unauthorised leave from work.
I accompanied a police team during the search, but it is scary that something like this could happen in the heart of the town. Most of the killings happened outside the police station.
VIKRAM SHARMA, a local resident