District and Sessions judge -VIII of Dhanbad subordinate court was crushed to death by a speeding auto rickshaw coming from behind early on Wednesday morning just outside the judges colony located near the Randhir Verma square .
The Judge, Uttam Anand, was transferred to Dhanbad from Bokaro about six months ago. A regular morning walker, he was on way to Randhir Verma stadium located close to the colony, when the incident took place around 5 am.
Anand was taken to SNMMCH by someone, who was crossing from there but doctors declared him dead.
By this time, a message was flashed at the police line that a police jawan has been admitted to hospital in injured condition. However, later, the police bodyguard who reached the hospital identified him and passed on the information of the incident to the principal district and sessions judge besides others.
Senior judicial officials besides police officials reached the hospital along with family members who by then had filed information of the missing with Dhanbad police .
Senior Superintendent of police (SSP) Sanjeev Kumar said that an autorickshaw hit the judge and the driver escaped with the vehicle.
The incident reported in the CCTV camera is of 5.08 am. However, investigation revealed that it was a deliberate attempt or accident as the judge was on the extreme left of the road, he said.
The SSP said, "It is an open case and police would investigate the case keeping in mind all possibities including murder".
In another move, the lawyers associated with Dhanbad Bar Association decided to abstain from all judicial work in honour of the deceased judge.
Senior lawyer Brajendra Prasad Singh has
demanded identification of the vehicle so that legal action may be initiated. He also condoled the untimely death of the judge .
The judge was probing Ranjay Singh murder case. Ranjay happened to be the private body guard of former Jharia MLA Sanjeev Singh, who is in jail owing to his alleged involvement in Neeraj Singh murder case.