Vijay Palande Murders Explained: The Dark Mystery of Kumbharli Ghat

Content Warning: This article discusses murder, violence, dismemberment and other disturbing details related to criminal investigations.

Mumbai has witnessed many shocking criminal cases, but the story connected to Vijay Palande remains particularly disturbing.

An engineer, an elderly businessman and a young aspiring film producer appeared to have little in common. Yet their stories eventually became connected through one man—and through a remote location around 300 kilometres from Mumbai: Kumbharli Ghat.

The investigation that began with the murder of businessman Arun Kumar Tikku eventually opened the door to older crimes, missing people, multiple identities and one of the strangest discoveries in the case: a human skull that investigators could not identify.

The Arun Tikku Murder Case

The story dramatically unfolded on the night of April 7, 2012, in Mumbai's Lokhandwala area.

A resident noticed something unusual through the window of a first-floor apartment. An elderly man appeared distressed while two younger men were inside the property.

Security guards were called.

Inside the apartment, suspicious bloodstains were reportedly visible. When police eventually entered, they discovered the body of 62-year-old Delhi businessman Arun Kumar Tikku.

Tikku had suffered multiple injuries.

Even more strangely, the two young men who had been inside the apartment had apparently escaped through a small bathroom window.

Investigators soon discovered that the apartment belonged to Arun Tikku's son, Anuj Tikku, an aspiring actor living in Mumbai.

Then another mystery appeared.

Anuj himself was missing.

Initially, suspicion naturally fell on the son. Television reports reportedly began portraying him as an important person in the investigation.

But the truth would turn out to be very different.

The Name Vijay Palande Appears

Police reportedly found an SUV connected with the suspects.

Inside were items including luggage and objects associated with a police officer. Investigators traced the vehicle to a Mumbai Crime Branch inspector who reportedly explained that he had lent it to a friend.

That friend's name was Vijay Palande.

Investigators then examined the telephone number linked with Palande and discovered another name: Karan Sood.

According to the investigation described in the case, Vijay Palande and Karan Sood were allegedly identities connected to the same man.

Even more importantly, Anuj Tikku had reportedly last been seen with someone using the name Karan Sood.

Police eventually located Anuj outside Mumbai near Chiplun.

Instead of being the murderer investigators initially feared, Anuj allegedly appeared to have been another intended victim.

According to the police theory described in the case, the plan involved Arun Tikku's valuable Mumbai properties. While Arun was attacked in Mumbai, Anuj had been taken away from the city.

The intervention of a suspicious neighbour may therefore have changed the entire sequence of events.

The Disappearance of Karan Kakkad

The investigation then connected Palande with another missing young man.

Karan Kakkad, 28, had ambitions of becoming a film producer and lived in Mumbai's Andheri area. He owned a BMW and came from a financially comfortable family.

He disappeared on March 5, 2012.

During the investigation, another name emerged: Simran Sood, a model who, according to police allegations described in the case, was associated with Palande.

Authorities began examining whether the Tikku and Kakkad cases were connected.

Police records described in the source alleged that Kakkad was killed in his apartment and that his remains were transported away from Mumbai.

The destination brought investigators to a location that would become central to the mystery.

The Secret of Kumbharli Ghat

Kumbharli Ghat is a mountainous route surrounded by dense forest and deep valleys.

Investigators searching the area reportedly recovered human remains.

DNA testing produced a chilling result.

Part of the recovered remains reportedly matched Karan Kakkad's family.

But the skull recovered with them did not.

It belonged to somebody else.

That meant investigators were potentially looking at another victim whose identity remained unknown.

Police could reconstruct a possible face, but according to the narrative of the case, they could not establish the person's name.

Who was this unidentified person?

Where was his family?

And how had he ended up in the same remote area?

Those questions became some of the most haunting parts of the entire Vijay Palande investigation.

A Murder Case From 1998

Investigators then examined Palande's past.

A much older case from 1998 revealed disturbing similarities.

Palande had reportedly worked at Mumbai's famous Copper Chimney restaurant, where he became acquainted with Anup Das, an Air India engineer who owned valuable property and a Mercedes.

According to the case narrative, Palande gradually gained his trust.

Anup later disappeared.

His father was also killed.

Unlike some of the later allegations surrounding Palande, this earlier double-murder case reached a conviction. According to the supplied account, Palande was convicted in the killings and sentenced to life imprisonment in November 1998.

But his story did not end behind bars.

Escape, New Identity and Plastic Surgery

According to the account, Palande later received parole but failed to return to prison.

He allegedly left India using false documentation and travelled to Thailand, where he underwent plastic surgery and adopted another identity.

He was eventually captured again in 2006.

After later getting out on bail, his name resurfaced during the extraordinary investigations of 2012.

The ability to change names, identities and even physical appearance became one of the most remarkable elements of the Vijay Palande story.

Why Were Wealthy Men Targeted?

Money appears repeatedly throughout the cases described by investigators.

Anup Das had property and an expensive vehicle.

Karan Kakkad owned a BMW and had access to money.

Arun and Anuj Tikku were connected to valuable Mumbai apartments.

According to the prosecution theories and police allegations described in the case, financial gain was therefore an important possible motive.

Palande was portrayed not as someone acting in sudden anger, but as someone who allegedly built relationships, gained trust and considered escape routes before crimes were committed.

What Happened to Anuj Tikku?

One of the biggest reversals concerned Arun Tikku's son.

At the beginning of the investigation, Anuj Tikku was viewed suspiciously because he disappeared around the time his father was murdered.

But as investigators uncovered more information, the picture changed.

The supplied account states that Anuj was ultimately cleared and that investigators came to believe he was potentially another target rather than the person responsible for his father's death.

It was a remarkable transformation—from suspected son to possible intended victim.

The Mystery That Still Haunts the Story

The most unsettling part of the story may not be one of the identified victims.

It is the unidentified skull reportedly recovered during the investigation around Kumbharli Ghat.

A human being had a life, a family and a history before becoming an unidentified entry in a criminal investigation.

Yet according to the supplied narrative, investigators never established exactly who that person was.

That unanswered question gives the Vijay Palande case its darkest mystery.

Who was the unidentified victim of Kumbharli Ghat?

Until that question receives an answer, one part of this extraordinary Mumbai crime story remains unfinished.