Palwal rampage: Retd Army captain undergoes surgery at Delhi hospital; stable

New Delhi: Naresh Dhankhad, a 45-year-old retired captain of the Indian Army who allegedly bludgeoned six people to death with an iron rod in Palwal, has undergone a head surgery at the Safdarjung hospital here and is in a stable condition, a senior doctor said.

Dhankhad, believed to be mentally ill, apparently suffered a head injury during a scuffle after being caught.

He was operated at the Safdarjung Hospital yesterday. He was admitted to the hospital's emergency at around 8 PM.

"He had suffered head injury and was found to have epidural hematoma (EDH), which is an intracranial hemorrhage between the outer membrane of the brain and the skull. We operated on him and removed the blood clot," Dr Karam Chand Sharma, head of the department of neurosurgery at the hospital, said.

"He is in the ICU and was taken off the ventilator in the morning. His condition is stable but he is yet to gain consciousness," he said.

Sharma said that Dhankhad was under treatment for some mental illness.

Dhankhad killed his first victim on the second floor of a private hospital in Palwal, Haryana, before hitting the streets to kill five others and injure one.

The incident at the hospital was recorded on a CCTV camera and in the footage, the accused can be purportedly seen walking in wearing trousers and a sweater and carrying a rod.

Dhankhad also attacked policemen when they tried to stop him.

He joined the Army in 1999 as a lieutenant and took retirement on medical grounds in 2003. He then joined the Haryana agriculture department as an assistant development officer in 2006.

He was working as a sub-divisional officer with the health department.

"He appeared to be mentally ill and looked highly aggressive. Preliminary investigations have revealed that he had strained relations with his wife and two children," Palwal Superintendent of Police Sulochana Gajraj had said yesterday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Abhimanyu Lohan said prima facie it seemed that he carried out the killings without a reason.

According to police, Dhankhad got married 10 years ago and separated from his wife four years later. Dhankhad was the youngest of five brothers.