J’KHAND HC CJ TO MONITOR JUDGE’S DEATH PROBE: SC
ADDITIONAL DISTRICT JUDGE UTTAM ANAND DIED AFTER HE WAS HIT BY AN AUTO-RICKSHAW WHILE ON A MORNING WALK ON JULY 28
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Monday said the Jharkhand high court chief justice will monitor weekly the progress made in the CBI probe into the alleged mowing down of a judge by a vehicle on July 28 in Dhanbad, and observed that the sealed cover report of the central agency did not contain much details.
The top court asked CBI to file its report weekly with the high court. The SC had on July 30 taken suo motu cognizance of the unfortunate sad demise of the judge in gruesome incident and had sought a status report within a week from Jharkhand’s chief secretary and the DGP on probe.
The Supreme Court Monday said the Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice will monitor weekly the progress made in the CBI probe into the alleged mowing down of a judge by a vehicle on July 28 in Dhanbad, and observed that the sealed cover report of the central agency did not contain much details.
A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and justices Vineet Saran and Surya Kant asked the CBI to file its report weekly with the high court where the bench headed by the Chief Justice would monitor it.
The top court had on July 30 taken suo motu cognizance of the “unfortunate” “sad demise” of the judge in “gruesome incident” and had sought a status report within a week from Jharkhand’s Chief Secretary and the DGP on probe.
Dhanbad additional district judge Uttam Anand died after he was hit by an auto-rickshaw while on a morning walk on July 28. The Jharkhand police have arrested two persons, Lakhan Verma and Rahul Verma, who were driving the vehicle they had allegedly stolen.
On July 30,the Supreme Court as well as the Jharkhand high court had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident last week after CCTV footage of the hit-and-run incident showed the three-wheeler deliberately swerving on an empty road to knock down the judge.
The auto-rickshaw used in the incident was allegedly stolen from Dhanbad and later recovered from the neighbouring Giridih district.
The bench of Chief Justice NV Ramana and justice Surya Kant sought a complete report on the case from the Jharkhand chief secretary and the director general of police in a week.
Registering the suo motu case as ‘In Re: Safeguarding Courts and Protecting Judges (Death of Additional Sessions Judge, Dhanbad)’, the court termed the incident “unfortunate”, adding: “This gruesome incident has been widely reported in newspapers, and video clippings of the incident are also being circulated on social media platforms, suggesting that it was not a case of simplicitor road accident.”
On Sunday, sleuths of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), probing the hit and run case leading to the death of Dhanbad district and sessions judge Uttam Anand last month, recreated the ‘accident’ scene once again, within a gap of around 17 hours. A CBI team reached the spot along with the auto-rickshaw involved in the incident and the two accused its driver Lakhand Verma and his associate Rahul Verma - at Randhir Verma Chowk, the spot of the ‘accident’, at 5 am when it had taken place on July 28, a police official said.
Members of the probe agency had also recreated the scene taking with them the two accused and the vehicle on Saturday afternoon. They had investigated for about four hours at the spot with experts of Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) and collected evidence.
During recreation of the scene on Sunday, the fourth day of the CBI’s probe, one person stood at the exact spot where the judge had been hit while Lakhan and Rahul were asked to drive the auto-rickshaw towards him, the police official said.