New Delhi, Aug 5 Citing the seriousness of the matter, the Jharkhand government has informed the Supreme Court that it is handing over the investigation into the mowing down of an additional district judge (ADJ) in Dhanbad to the CBI.
According to the status report filed by the state government, the CBI has taken over the investigation in the case and the government will extend its full cooperation in the case involving the unfortunate death of ADJ Uttam Anand, who was hit by an auto-rickshaw while taking a morning walk.
The status report was jointly filed by Jharkhand Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh and Director General of Police Neeraj Sinha. A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana is scheduled to hear the matter on Friday.
The status report said prima facie verification of footage indicated that there appeared to be some deliberate act of hitting and subsequent death of the ADJ. The state government said it has now made arrangements for deploying additional security in the residential colonies of judicial officers in all the districts of the state.
The state government said the police were able to trace and locate the three-wheeler which was involved in the incident and two persons, Rahul Kumar Verma and Lakhan Kumar Verma, were apprehended on July 29. The accused were sent to judicial custody and later the court remanded them to five days police custody.
On July 30, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the alleged mowing down of ADJ Uttam Anand by an auto-rickshaw and sought a status report on the investigation from the Jharkhand government through the chief secretary and the DGP within a week.
A bench comprising Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Surya Kant had said: "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."
The bench added, "Having regard to the seriousness of the issue and its larger ramifications, we direct the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, State of Jharkhand to jointly submit a status report of inquiry vis-a-vis the sad demise of the Judicial Officer Uttam Anand, with the Registry of this Court within a week's time."
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