Death sentence toPalatkar for killing fivemembers of his family
| Date :16-Apr-2023 |
Special Correspondent :
AFTER convicting Vivek Palatkar for killing five members of his family, including his son, in Nandanvan area a fortnight ago, Additional Sessions Judge R S Pavaskar awarded capital punishment to him in a jam-packed courtroom, on Saturday. The judgement comes after hearing the arguments of Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) Abhay Jikar, assisted by Adv Mohammad Ateeque, justifying that the case falls in the category of ‘rarest of the rare’ for death penalty. Earlier, the court had given the opportunity to the defence to present the mitigating circumstances and pray for a lesser penalty. Vivek Gulab Palatkar (35), a resident of Navargaon village in Mauda tehsil, was arrested by the police from Ludhiana, Punjab after almost 15 days of the brutal killings. Palatkar had massacred BJP activist and his brother-in-law Kamlakar Motiram Pawankar (52), Kamlakar’s mother Meerabai (72), his own sister Archana (45), her daughter Vedanti (15) and his own son Krishna (4), in Pawankar’s house at Plot No. 26, Aaradhana Nagar, on June 11, 2018. The case was investigated by the then Police Inspector of Nandanvan Police Station Mukund Salunke while APP Jikar represented the State in the court. It may be mentioned that Palatkar had come to Pawankar’s house for an overnight halt. Kamlakar, Archana, Vedanti and Krishna were sleeping in the bedroom while Vivek was sleeping in the living room. Kamlakar’s daughter Mitali (5) and Vivek’s daughter Vaishnavi were also sleeping in the living room with Mirabai.
He committed the crime between 1 am and 3 am. He entered the bedroom when the victims were in deep slumber. He attacked them with sharp and heavy objects. Their heads were smashed three to four times. After hearing screams from the bedroom, Mirabai went to the bedroom to see what was happening. As Mirabai attempted to raise an alarm, Vivek hit her with a sharp object on her head. Her body was found lying in a pool of blood near the refrigerator in the kitchen. After committing the crime, the accused fled the spot by jumping the compound wall. Earlier, Palatkar was convicted by the Sessions Court for murdering his wife. He was acquitted by High Court in 2017. Kamlakar, whom Palatkar killed, had actually helped him with the case and also tried to rehabilitate him after his release from jail. Kamlakar had spent lakhs of rupees for the case to get Palatkar released and was also looking after his children when he was in jail. Palatkar had quit as security guard at a hotel in Sitabuldi area and wanted to start farming at his native place at Nuwargaon near Airoli in Nagpur rural. Kamlakar was demanding Rs five lakh from Palatkar towards the lawyer’s fees and expenses borne by him after he was arrested and jailed. Palatkar tried to mortgage his ancestral land in Airoli but could get a loan. He was angry with Kamlakar for transferring two acre land to his step-sister. Palatkar’s another sister had taken away substantial property from him earlier. Kamlakar had helped Palatkar get a job and helped him rent a house on Amravati road. However, Palatkar committed the heinous crime killing five members of the family, including his son.
APP Jikar, who represented the State, had examined 29 witnesses, including two eye-witnesses who were present at the home but spared by Palatkar which included his daughter. As the charges were already substantiated against Palatkar, the court awarded capital punishment to him by hanging till death subject to confirmation by the High Court and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him. Adv Mohammad Ateeque, who appeared for complainant Keshav Pawankar, said, “Today, Pawankar family got justice after five years. It was a landmark judgement and it would give a message to the society that such heinous crimes should be dealt with only death penalty.”