Banswara double murder case solved, neighbour arrested

UDAIPUR

: In a major breakthrough,

Banswara

police solved the mystery of Devkanya Panchal murder case and arrested her neighbour Rakesh Panchal (39) who had killed the woman and her son Vivek with a motive to loot.

Rakesh had killed Devkanya first with a sharp knife and later killed her son by drowning him in

Mahi river

at the Geman bridge end on Sunday midnight. Vivek's body was found in a sack on Wednesday that was filled with stones which indicated that it was not a suicide but a murder.

In order to mislead investigation, the accused used Vivek’s mobile to float a message on the Panchal community group wherein he posed as Vivek and wrote that he had killed his mother and would kill himself out of guilt by drowning. Though Vivek had been the prime suspect in the murder, however, when the police spoke to close relatives of the family, Vivek’s character came out to be of obedient and a kind person. People indicated that Rakesh, a neighbour, had become close to Devkanya and met her often. Police began to investigate the angle and thus found the real culprit.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Banswara SP Kaluram Rawat said that Rakesh had developed friendly relations with Devkanya Panchal who lived alone. Her husband Kantilal and younger son Vivek lived in Jabalpur and had their fabrication work there while their eldest son lived in Kuwait. Devkanya was a moneylender who gave money to people in lieu of their jewellery and she herself had ample ornaments.

It was easy for Rakesh to befriend Devkanya being a neighbour and from the same community. Devkanya was a religious woman and had much belief in puja. Once she told Rakesh that she was looking for suitable girls for her sons and was worried for their engagement. Rakesh assured Devkanya that her worries would be solved if she did a special puja on Anant Chaturdashi.

On Sunday, after the immersion of Ganesh idol, Rakesh asked Devkanya to make special arrangements for the rituals and instructed Vivek to leave the house and wait at the junction for him as he would bring a

coconut

to be immersed in the Mahi river. Meanwhile, at Devkanya's home he asked the woman to recite some mantras and not to open her eyes during the chanting. As the woman got busy with mantra chanting, Rakesh took the opportunity and attacked her multiple times with a big sharp knife. He took all the jewellery kept in the puja room and took a coconut in his car to the junction where Vivek was waiting for him unknown of what had happened at home.

Rakesh drove the boy to Geman bridge in his car and asked him to close his eyes and chant a mantra. He pushed the boy and drowned him in the water and used his mobile to leave a message on the community's group. When police detained Rakesh, he cooked up many stories, however, he broke down when thoroughly interrogated and confessed his crime. Rakesh's arrest came as a rude shock for relatives and community members who staged a protest outside collectorate and demanded death sentence for him.