PALWAL – A former army officer has been arrested for bludgeoning to death six people in the northern Indian state of Haryana within a span of an hour, according to media reports.
Naresh Dhankad was arrested by the police while he was on his way to his father-in-law’s house, apparently to murder him, the NDTV reported.
A lieutenant in the army, he had taken voluntary retirement in 2003 on medical grounds and is currently in his 40s, the police said.
Now a Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) with Haryana’s Agriculture Department, Naresh went on a murder spree, randomly killing six persons, including a woman, at different places in Palwa, a town 80 km from Delhi, in the early hours of Tuesday. All the six murders took place between 2:30 am and 3:30 am.
Police suspect the suspect is mentally unstable.
Last night, around 2.30 am, he was caught on CCTV while entering the local government hospital. He was first taken to the Civil Hospital in the district and later referred to a hospital in Faridabad. He has now been shifted to Delhi’s Safdarjung Hospital as his condition worsened.
Dressed in a blue sweater and white trousers, he is seen moving through what looks like a hospital corridor. In the video released by the police, he is seen holding an iron rod and looking around.
His first victim was a 35-year-old woman, who had come to attend to a relative. She was found stretched out outside the Intensive Care Unit on the first floor of the hospital.
The next three murders took place in rapid succession — the men were security guards and beggars who were found outside the hospital. The last victim was a security guard.
Immediately an alert was sent to all police stations and security beefed up at check-posts.
