  We report experimental observation of the Planar Hall effect (PHE) in a
type-II Dirac semimetal PtTe$_2$. This unusual Hall effect is not expected in
nonmagnetc materials such as PtTe$_2$, and has been observed previously mostly
in magnetic semiconductors or metals. Remarkably, the PHE in PtTe$_2$ can be
observed up to temperatures near room temperature which indicates the
robustness of the effect. This is in contrast to the chiral anomaly induced
negative longitudnal magnetoresistance (LMR), which can be observed only in the
low temperature regime and is sensitive to extrinsic effects, such as current
jetting and chemical inhomogeneities in crystals of high mobility. Planar Hall
effect on the other hand is a purely intrinsic effect generated by the Berry
curvature in Weyl semimetals. Additionally, the PHE is observed for PtTe$_2$
even though the Dirac node is $\approx 0.8$~eV away from the Fermi level. Thus
our results strongly indicate that PHE can be used as a crucial transport
diagnostic for topological character even for band structures with Dirac nodes
slightly away from the Fermi energy.
