New Delhi: Supreme Court Bar Association President, Vikas Singh, urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to take a suo moto cognizance of the killing of a Dhanbad judge for denying bail to a gangster. The bench led by the Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana, said that he had a talk with the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court and the HC has already taken a suo moto cognizance. CJI said that they are hearing the matter today itself and it doesn't require any interference from the top court.
District officials and police were summoned by the High court for the matter. In a chilling incident on July 28, a district and additional judge in Dhanbad, was killed in a pretentious hit and run case. The killing came to light after CCTV footage was examined and now matter is under investigation.
Justice Uttam Anand was Dhanbad District and Sessions Judge and he was earlier the District and Sessions Judge of Bokaro. On Wednesday, police said Anand was jogging towards Golf Ground from his residence at Randhir Verma Chowk when the accident took place. As he did not return home for several hours, Anand's family informed the police. A hunt was launched and police received information about an unclaimed dead body in Shaheed Nirmal Mahto Medical College and hospital (SNMMCH), following which Anand's bodyguard had identified the body.
Dhanbad Police have arrested an auto driver in connection with the death of Judge Uttam Anand. Though initially, it was believed to be a case of hit and run, the CCTV footage of the incident clearly shows an auto knocking him down, suggesting foul-play.
Anand was hearing the famous murder case of coal mafia kingpin Ranjay Singh, who was a close aide of Sanjeev Singh, former MLA of Jharia. According to reports, Anand had recently rejected the bail plea of shooter Abhinav Singh and Ravi Thakur, the two accused in the case. Following this, police are speculating the incident as a murder and a probe has been launched in this direction.
Read: Dhanbad judge death: Police arrest auto driver, matter raised in SC
