The Jharkhand High Court today ordered an SIT probe into the death of Dhanbad judge Uttam Anand the day before when he was out for a morning jog.
CCTV footage showed that Anand, a district and sessions judge of Dhanbad court, was jogging on one side of a fairly wide road at Randhir Verma Chowk early on Wednesday when a heavy auto-rickshaw veered towards him, hit him from behind and fled the scene.
Another auto-rickshaw driver found him lying in a pool of blood and took him to a nearby hospital, where the doctors declared him dead on arrival.
Two persons have been arrested in this connection so far, according to Dhanbad SSP Sanjiv Kumar.
Taking cognizance of a letter filed before the court by the Dhanbad principal district judge in the case, Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan converted it into a writ petition, and ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT), under the leadership of Additional Director General of Police Sanjay Latkar, to look into the matter.
He further said that Chief Justice of India N V Ramana has spoken to him in the matter, and expressed confidence that a fair investigation will be carried out in the case.
The court said it will monitor the probe and sought updates from the SIT from time to time.
It also observed that the law and order situation in Jharkhand has worsened as earlier, too, an advocate had come under attack in the state.
Jharkhand Director General of Police Neeraj Sinha, during the hearing of the case, assured the court that the investigation would be carried out in a professional manner and suggested the name of Sanjay Lautkar as the head of the SIT.
The court expressed its displeasure over the delay in registration of FIR following the incident.
If at any point in time it appears to the court that the investigation is not heading in the right direction, then the case will be handed over to the CBI, the Chief Justice said.
He asked the police to ensure that culprits, if any, are punished in the case.
Not just the auto driver, the person who hatched the conspiracy should also be unmasked, he said.
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