NAGPUR: A team of Nagpur Crime Branch succeeded in arresting dreaded criminal Vivek Palatkar, who is accused in the sensational murders of his five family members that rocked the city last week.
Sources say, the Crime Branch team arrested the accused on Thursday from a slum in Ludhiana district in Punjab. The team had got clues about his whereabouts and was camping in Punjab since last three days. The cops, along with the accused, would be returning to Nagpur by Friday.
Vivek Palakar, in a cold-blooded crime, murdered his elder sister, her husband, daughter and mother-in-law along with his own son, last week in an area coming under the Nandanvan police station. Palatkar was at large after the crime.
Sources said Palatkar had got a job at a factory in Ludhiana and took a rented place too.
Sources claimed the crime branch’s cyber experts had got the first clue of Palatkar’s location after he started using his cell phone on June 18 with a new SIM card purchased in Punjab. His location was changing continuously, which showed he was travelling, either by truck or train, said a senior crime branch official.
After his location stabilized in Ludhiana, the crime branch team set off for Punjab a couple of days ago. The team had also taken had an acquaintance of Palatkar with them. The police had by then also got his new cell phone number, which Palatkar had used to make calls to many locations in Uttar Pradesh. As cops suspected he was heading there, some calls were also made by cops in disguise to Palatkar’s new cell phone to pinpoint his location in Ludhiana.
The cops then realized that Palatkar was in a slum, and planned to approach the place from different directions. It’s also learnt the cops put on disguises to ensure Palatkar did not recognize them and try to flee or commit suicide.
Also, local cops were taken into confidence before the cops ventured into the slum.
Sources from police department said Palatkar is likely to have learnt about some hideouts in Ludhiana from inmates of Dallu Sardar gang while he was in jail. Even after murdering his wife in 2014, Palatkar had been nabbed at Vaishnodevi. Police are expected to reach the city on Friday with Palatkar.
