The 46-year-old alleged serial killer, Vijay Palande, who is being tried in two sensational back-to-back murder cases, was seen in Esplanade court on Friday in a sophisticated new avatar in pressed white shirt, black trousers and polished black shoes, grilling a crime branch officer who stood in the witness box. As the officer replied calmly , the magistrate recorded his statements.
Palande, who was also wearing spectacles, was appearing in court in connection with a case over escaping from police custody, and has refused to use the services of a lawyer in the case and is representing himself.
Palande, who has been in jail since his arrest in 2012, claimed before the court that he is innocent and is being “falsely implicated”. Palande has eight cases against him, including one over his escape from a heavily guarded crime branch police jeep on April 10, 2012 while being taken to a crime branch unit in Andheri (east). He was later caught the same day.
Palande claimed before the Esplanade court that he in fact never ran away. In this regard, he has also requested to see his own call data records as well as that of around eight crime branch officials.
In March 2012, Palande and his aides allegedly murdered Karakumar Kakad (28), chopped up his body and threw it in the Kumbharli Ghat near Chiplun. Next month, Arunkumar Tikku (67) was murdered at his plush Lokhandwala residence and was to be dumped like Kakad but a resident saw the murder taking place, following which Palande was arrested.
