An ex- army man was arrested by Palwal police Tuesday for allegedly beating six people to death with the help of an iron rod. According to the police, all of the six murders were executed between 2 am and 4 am in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Dhankar, served as a lieutenant in the Indian Army. He is the youngest of five brothers and hails from Macchar village in Faridabad, and was currently residing in Palwal’s Omaxe City.
Dhankar left the Indian Army under the Medical Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) in 2003 and joined the Agricultural Department as ADO in 2006. Currently, Dhankar was posted as SDO in the department in Bhiwani.
The murders first came to light at half past two on Monday night when police received information about the first body being found near the Palwal hospital, with the victim appearing to have sustained a head injury.
Even as police was taking custody of the body, they received information about a second victim, a woman named Anjum, who was a patient at Palwal hospital, being beaten to death inside the establishment with an iron rod. In the next few hours, four more murders came to light, which included a kabadi wallah and a guard.
“During the night itself, checkpoints were set up across the city, and police personnel deployed on foot at all junctions and markets. PCR vans were sent out as well,” said Sanjay Kumar, PRO of Palwal police.
The dead bodies, meanwhile, were taken to a government hospital in Palwal. All of the victims had sustained head injuries.
“The accused was finally arrested at 7 am, from Rasulpur Chowk in Palwal.” Said the PRO.
According to police, Dhankar was also planning to murder his wife, from whom he was separated, and their 8-year-old son. However, police managed to nab him before he could execute his plan.