The court of CBI Special Judge Rajnikanth Pathak on Saturday awarded life imprisonment till last breath to convicts Lakhan Verma and Rahul Verma for killing Dhanbad Civil Court Judge Uttam Anand. The court also imposed `25,000 fine each on both the convicted persons.
The duo was held guilty under sections 302 (murder), 201 (hiding evidence), 34 (common intention) of IPC on July 28, 2022 by the special CBI court and today the quantum of punishment was announced. The judgment was pronounced through video conferencing.
Defence lawyer Kumar Vimalendu, however, was not satisfied with the verdict. Talking to media persons, he said, “It was a case of hit and run but the CBI concocted it to be a murder theory without having any evidence of motive behind murder.”
Lakhan and Rahul will challenge the verdict in higher court, added the defence lawyer, who was appointed by District Legal Services Authority (DLSA).
One of the relatives of the late Judge Vishal Anand too expressed anguish over the sentence. He said that they were expecting a death sentence but cannot comment on the judgment.
CBI APP Amit Jindal had said the court found both guilty as they were not in an intoxicated situation when the auto, which one of the accused was driving, had hit the judge. It was not an accident but intentional murder, claimed Jindal. However, he could not explain what the intention behind the murder was.
Lakhan and Rahul were in judicial custody since the incident and CBI had conducted brain making, Narco and other such tests for more than two times of both the accused to gather clues.
Late Judge Anand was killed on July 28, 2021, in a road accident when he was on morning walk near Randhir Verma square under Dhanbad Sadar police station around 5 am. The CCTV footage released by police then was showing an auto rickshaw knocking down judge Anand on the corner of the empty road. Auto driver Lakhan was arrested with the vehicle in a village of Giridih district within 24 hours of incident by the police with his accomplice along with the auto.
The State Government had set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident but when Jharkhand High Court and the Supreme Court took cognizance of the incident, the State Government handed over the case to the CBI on August 4, 2021.