Palande arrest: Police in a quandary as narco test fails

With Vijay Palande’s narco analysis test results inconclusive, the Mumbai crime branch is worried about being able to identify the second person whose skeletal remains were found at the Kumbharli Ghat near Chiplun.

The first body found by Palande and his accomplices, which had been cut into pieces and dumped, was identified as that of Karan Kakkar, an aspiring producer. Palande had led the police to Kumbharli Ghat after he was arrested in the murder of Arun Tikku, a Delhi-based businessman, whose body was found in his flat in Oshiwara. 

“It is only Palande who can help us in identifying the second victim. It is also possible that one of his accomplices might have murdered the unidentified man without Palande’s knowledge. So far Palande has denied having killed anybody other than Tikku and Kakkar,” said a source.

A crime branch officer informed that all the victims of Palande were rich, hence it seems unlikely that the third victim, who is around 25-years-old and unidentified, could be someone random. He added that even with so much hype around the case, nobody has approached to help identify the person.  A missing person complaint would have been launched somewhere in the city or outside. This is only possible if the man had no family or friends.

“Face reconstruction technique would not be of much help to identify the victim. We haven’t taken a call on a second narco test on Palande,” said a police officer.