The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formally taken over the probe into the alleged murder of Dhanbad’s additional district judge Uttam Anand last month, it announced on Wednesday.
In a statement issued by its headquarters, the CBI said, “The Central Bureau of Investigation has today registered a case related to alleged murder of Shri Uttam Anand, Additional District Judge, Dhanbad on the request of Jharkhand Government and further Notification from Government of India.”
A 20-member team has been set by the CBI to probe the matter. It has left for Dhanbad, they said, adding that it will be followed by a Central Forensic Science Laboratory team.
It added, “The case was earlier registered by state police on a complaint from wife of deceased vide FIR No. 300/2021 dated 28.07.2021 at Police Station Dhanbad u/s 302, 34 of IPC against unknown auto driver. Two persons have been arrested by local police. CBI has taken over the investigation of the said case and constituted a Special Investigation Team. The team is proceeding today to Dhanbad.”
Jharkhand government on Saturday recommended a CBI probe into the death of Uttam Anand in Dhanbad on July 28.
Even though Jharkhand police had constituted an 11-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident, chief minister Hemant Soren recommended a CBI probe on July 31, a day after the slain judge’s family members met him in Ranchi.
Deceased judge was on a morning walk on the morning of July 28 when an unidentified auto hit him near Randhir Verma Chowk and sped away.
Later, the police recovered the auto from Giridih district and initially arrested two persons. The incident led to massive uproar in the country with the Supreme Court describing it as an assualt on the judiciary.
The central probe agency had informed the Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday that it has received the state government's letter to take over the probe a day earlier.
The bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad had directed the CBI to initiate a probe at the earliest. It had also directed the government to hand over all the documents of the case to the CBI.
Taking cognizance of a letter filed before the court by the Dhanbad principal district judge in the case, Justice Ranjan had converted it into a writ petition and ordered the formation of an SIT headed by Additional Director General of Police Sanjay Latkar to look into the matter.
The bench, dissatisfied with the progress report, had questioned why there was a delay in registering an FIR into the case.
The incident occurred at 5.08 am, and the FIR was registered at 12.45 pm when it was clear from CCTV footage that the judge was picked up from the spot and taken to a hospital, the court had said.
"Do the police register an FIR only on the basis of a statement? Do the police not register an FIR on their own? Why did the police take six hours to register the FIR?" it had asked.
The court said that there is fear among judicial officers following the incident and directed that the security of courts, including the high court, and judicial officers be strengthened.
The Supreme Court on July 30 had also taken suo motu cognizance of the "sad demise" of the Dhanbad judge.
"We direct the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) of Jharkhand to submit a report in a week's time on the status of the investigation on the sad demise of additional district and sessions Judge Uttam Anand, a bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana had said.
