Ten days after he fled the orange city after allegedly killing a BJP worker and his four family members, the crime branch sleuths of the Nagpur police arrested Vivek Gulab Palatkar from ludhiana in Punjab and booked him for the multiple murders.
Confirming Palatkar’s arrest late on Thursday, a senior Crime branch official said on Friday that the absconding accused was tracked to a slum in ludhiana where he was holed up after fleeing Nagpur soon after he allegedly murdered Kamlakar Motiram Pawankar and four members of his family.
Kamalakar (52), his wife Archana (45), mother Meerabai (73), daughter Vedanti (12) and nephew Krishna (5) were found brutally murdered in their Ardhana Nagar residence in Nagpur on June 10. They had been attacked and killed by the assailant using a sharp and heavy object. The gruesome murders had taken place when the five members of Kamlakar’s family were asleep.
Palatkar, who was brought to have confessed to multiple murders, is being brought to Nagpur from ludhiana.
Kamlakar’s brother-in-law Palatkar, whom the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court had early this year acquitted of his wife Savita’s murder by giving him a benefit of doubt, had not taken kindly to his sister Archana refusing to take away his children Kamlakars' home. Archana was taking care of Palatkar’s his son Krishna and daughter Vaishnavi after the latter’s arrest in connection with his wife’s arrest.
Palatkar had issues with his brother-in-law Kamlakar over money amounting to nearly Rs 5 lakh that he had borrowed for fighting his case in the high court but had not returned. What made matters complicated was his sister Archana’s refusal to hand back to Palatkar his children, after the latter’s acquittal in his wife’s murder case.
Apart from being a small-time businessman dealing in property and mobile phone repairing business, Kamlakar was a local BJP leader.
After the multiple murders, the needle of suspicion had turned towards Palatkar as his motor-bicycle was found near the slain Kamlakar’s residence after the gruesome murders.
The investigations have revealed that Palatkar had fled Nagpur and shifted his base to ludhiana, where he had taken up a job and was staying in a slum.
Following Palatkar’s arrest, the investigators are trying to ascertain if more number of persons were involved in the killing of Kamlakar and his four family members.