SIT to probe Palwal killings, Rs 3 lakh compensation announced for victims

The Haryana government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the circumstances under which a government official murdered six people in Palwal on Tuesday.

The accused, Naresh Dhankar, a sub-divisional officer (SDO) with the Haryana government’s agricultural department in Bhiwani, had bludgeoned six people to death with an iron rod in a two-hour-long mayhem in the early hours of Tuesday in Palwal. Dhankar had taken voluntary retirement from the Army as a lieutenant in 2003.

The decision to form a SIT was taken after family members of the six victims staged demonstrations on Wednesday and demanded monetary compensation and jobs. The government later announced Rs 3 lakh each for the kin of the murdered victims.

A tense atmosphere prevailed in Palwal throughout Wednesday even as police heightened security arrangements in the town.

Police said they are yet to interrogate Dhankar, who remained unconscious throughout Wednesday after suffering brain haemorrhage during confrontation with a police team.

Undergoing treatment at Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital, Dhankar underwent a neurosurgery on Tuesday evening. On Thursday, his vitals — body temperature, pulse rate and blood pressure — turned stable. “Although his condition is serious, doctors have said that he is likely to make a full recovery,” said Poonam Dhanda, spokesperson of Safdarjung Hospital.

The families of victims, meanwhile, voiced their anger against the Rs 3 lakh compensation announced for them. Satish Sharma, brother-in-law of victim Khemchand, demanded at least Rs 20 lakh compensation for the family. “Khemchand worked at a milk plant and was the sole earning member of his family. How are his wife and three young children going to survive,” said Sharma.

Khemchand was found murdered at Palwal’s Rasulpur Chowk.

According to Sulochana Gajraj, Palwal’s superintendent of police, the SIT will probe circumstances that triggered the murders, whether Dhankar intended to target his wife and in-laws and the source of the iron rod which the suspect allegedly used during the killings.

Dhankar’s wife, Seema, meanwhile, said that though her husband abused her regularly, he paid for their eight-year-old son’s tuition fees and monthly instalments of their three-bedroom flat in a residential society in Palwal town.

Seema, however, remained unsure if her husband should be punished for the crime. “If a normal person does it, then punishment is justified. But I believe he was not normal. I had earlier taken him to a private hospital in Faridabad (for getting Dhankar treated for his mental illness),” she told Hindustan Times.