The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court on Wednesday upheld the death penalty awarded to Vivek Palatkar, who was convicted in the case involving the gruesome murder of five members of his family. In April 2023, a sessions court had sentenced him to death after examining the testimonies of 29 witnesses. Palatkar had then approached the Bombay High Court, where his plea was quashed, with the High Court upholding the verdict of the lower court.
The murder took place on June 11, 2018, in Aradhana Nagar in Dighori, Nagpur at Palatkar’s brother-in-law Kamlakar Pawankar’s home, over a property dispute. On the day of the crime, Palatkar had lunch with Pawankar’s family, after which the entire family fell asleep, when Palatkar smashed their heads with an iron rod. The victims of the crime were identified as Pawankar, his wife Archana, their daughter Vedanti, Pawankar’s mother Meerabai, and Palatkar’s son. The crime came to light with the help of the only survivors of the murder, Palatkar’s elder daughter Vaishnavi, and her cousin Mitali Pawankar. The girls pretended to be asleep among the corpses for a few hours, waiting for Palatkar to leave before approaching the neighbours. He was later arrested.
In May 2014, Palatkar had killed his wife Savita and burnt her corpse to destroy the evidence. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Pawankar paid ₹5 lakh to secure his bail. The dispute began when Palatkar refused to return the money.
