Parents face "double tragedy"

KOLHAPUR, Nov 7: Please believe me… our Pankaj is not alive.”As if the trauma of his three-year-old son being kidnapped and murdered, allegedly by Anjanabai Gavit, her two daughters and son-in-law was not pain enough, Suhas Mhamulkar had to go through the gut-wrenching ordeal of proving in court that his son was, indeed, dead.

A tearful Mhamulkar was being cross-examined by defence counsel Manik Mulikat the District and Sessions Court in the sensational Anjanabai Gavit case of kidnapping and subsequent murders of children here on Thursday. Of the 14 children who were kidnapped, 10 were brutally murdered by the Gavits.Mulik told Mhamulkar that the photographs of the body identified by him as that of Pankaj, did not feature Pankaj at all. After Mulik submitted that Mhamulkar was lying and Pankaj was still alive, Mhamulkar pleaded in court his son was not alive.

Earlier in the day, as the proceedings before Additional Sessions Judge G L Yedke began, special public prosecutor Ujwal Nikam asked Mhamulkar tonarrate the story of his son’s kidnapping. Nikam also showed him a white T- shirt and black shorts, which Mhamulkar immediately identified as belonging to Pankaj. Photographs of Pankaj’s body were also identified by Mhamulkar.Pankaj’s mother Sharmila was also examined in court by Nikam and Mulik. Sharmila broke down after being shown Pankaj’s photographs and clothes.