The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday announced it has taken-over investigation of the alleged murder of Dhanbad district court Judge Uttam Anand and an FIR has bene lodged in Delhi on Wednesday evening.
Sources said that the FIR (RC 04/2021) has been lodged at CBI /SC I unit of the agency in Delhi.
“A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has been formed comprising 20 officials. The SIT is set to reach Dhanbad by tonight. The forensic team is also likely to join on the spot investigation within a couple of days. Possibly, the forensic team may join the investigation tomorrow,” sources said.
The CBI ASP Vijay Kumar Shukla will head the investigating team. The CBI has re-registered the original FIR lodged by Kriti Sinha; wife of the deceased judge, as a regular case. Notably, the CBI has kept its Jharkhand, Bihar and Bengal unit out of the loop of this case. However, the CBI sources did not attach much importance to this if the Delhi unit had been roped for investigation.The CBI took-up the investigation on the basis of the recommendation of the Jharkhand government. Given the mood of the Supreme Court and Jharkhand High Court; Jharkhand government had realized that the top judiciary doesn’t trust Jharkhand police and the judiciary can suo moto ask the CBI to investigate the case. Hence the state government recommended a CBI probe.On Tuesday during the hearing of the case the double bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad snubbed Jharkhand police for botching-up the investigation. The court asked the CBI to take-up the investigation immediately before “they (Police) destroy evidence.”On July 28, the judge was knocked down by an auto rickshaw when he was jogging on the roadside in Dhanbad. The next day police arrested auto drivers Lakhan Verma and Rahul Verma and the auto used in the crime was seized from Giridih district.’
The deceased judge was conducting trials of many sensitive cases and he was under threat for annoying mafias and criminals. The CCTV footage gave credence to the doubt that it was a well-planned murder rather than a case of hit and run.
The death had badly shaken-up the judiciary and Bar across the country as Jharkhand High Court remarked that it was not a case of hit and run but a brutal murder of a judicial officer.
Chief Justice of India NV Ramana expressed shock over the death and said that judicial officials across the country have been facing threats, which is a matter of concern.