quot;Hack accused to bitsquot;

KOLHAPUR, Nov 4: The court of Additional Sessions Judge G L Yedke resonated to the sobs of a grieving mother, whose son Pankaj was among the...

KOLHAPUR, Nov 4: The court of Additional Sessions Judge G L Yedke resonated to the sobs of a grieving mother, whose son Pankaj was among the 13 children kidnapped, tortured and killed by Anjanabai Gavit, her daughters and son-in-law in the sensational children8217;s murder case.

Sharmila Mhamulkar from Mumbai sobbed uncontrollably in the witness box as she recounted the events of her son8217;s disappearance and then again as she identified photographs and clothes of her three-and-half-year-old boy in the courtroom today.

As memories flooded back, the hysterical Mhamulkar told the court that the 8220;accused should be punished by cutting the accused into pieces8221;.

The court urged Mhamulkar about four times to control herself and assured that her ordeal in the witness box would not take long. The court also requested both government pleader advocate Ujjwal Nikam and defence counsel Manik Mulik to keep their examination to the minimum by taking her condition into consideration.

During Nikam8217;s examination, the boy8217;smother recalled the day she, Pankaj and a friend visited the Vitthal temple in Wadala, Mumbai, on the eve of Ashadi Ekadashi on July 27, 1996. She said they were there at around 7.30 pm.Later, they visited a shop near the temple to buy a purse. She recalled holding Pankaj8217;s hand for a while but after about five minutes she suddenly realised that the boy had disappeared.

Mhamulkar and her friend searched frantically for Pankaj till around 9.30 pm but in vain. She immediately informed her mother-in-law at her residence in Naigaon. Later, they were joined by her husband Suhas, mother-in-law and neighbors and continued to search for Pankaj till morning, Mhamulkar told the court. he next morning, her husband lodged a complaint with the Matunga police.

8220;The first time my husband and I identified Pankaj8217;s clothes were in the Nashik rest house before a magistrate, on October 31, 1996, she said.Today Mhamulkar identified Pankaj from a coloured group photograph of 16 boys. She told the court the picture had beentaken by her husband at a birthday party of a neighbhour8217;s child.

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Mhamulkar also identified her son from eight photographs of the child8217;s body and positively identified the clothes worn by Pankaj when he had disappeared.During cross examination conducted by defence counsel Manik Mulik, Mhamulkar told the court that the family had also published advertisements in newspapers hoping someone had seen him after he went missing.

She said she was in a highly disturbed state of mind after the disappearance and therefore was unable to tell the court about a telephone call received in connection with the disappearance.

She also denied that her husband had received a telephone call and that Pankaj had spoken to him over the phone.