The family members of Uttam Anand called on Hemant Soren on Friday. (File)
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Friday said the government was serious on probe into the death of Dhanbad Judge Uttam Anand and will ensure justice to his family.
The family members of Anand called on Mr Soren on Friday. "The family members of late Justice Uttam Anand met the chief minister Hemant Soren today...The chief minister told the family that the state government is serious about the investigation in the matter," a statement from the chief minister's office said. Mr Soren said: "It is state government's priority to complete the investigation of this incident at a speedy pace and provide justice to the family members."
The CM said as soon as the matter came into knowledge of the government, a team of senior police officials was constituted to crack the case.
The statement said that the family members expressed satisfaction to the chief minister for the formation of a high-level inquiry and SIT by the state government to probe the death of district and sessions court judge of Dhanbad. The family members have urged the chief minister to take the initiative to give job to the late judge's wife on compassionate ground, the statement added.
Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh and other senior officials were present on the occasion.
The lawyers across the state Friday abstained from judicial work on the call of all 37 bar associations including 24 district bar associations, 12 sub divisional bar assocaitions and one Advocates Association at Jharkhand High Court to protest against Judge's death and an advocate's murder in the state. The lawyers abstained from work to express solidarity and demanded implementation of Advocates Protection Act, he said.
The Supreme Court Friday took suo motu cognizance of the "sad demise" of 49-year-old Dhanbad judge Uttam Anand in "gruesome incident" of being allegedly mowed down by a heavy autorickshaw while on morning jog on July 28 at Dhanbad and sought a status report within a week from Jharkhand's Chief Secretary and the DGP on the probe into the incident.
"We direct the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) of Jharkhand to submit a report in a week's time on the status of investigation on the sad demise of additional district and sessions Judge Uttam Anand," said the bench which also comprised justice Surya Kant.
The bench said it was concerned with the larger issues such as "the nature of the incident and the steps taken by the state governments for protection of judicial officers inside and outside the court premises".
On Thursday, the top court said the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court has already taken up the matter related to the alleged killing of the judicial officer after senior advocate and SCBA President Vikas Singh mentioned the matter and said this is a "brazen attack" on the independence of judiciary.CCTV footages showed that District and Sessions Judge-8 of Dhanbad court, Uttam Anand , 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.
Locals took him to a nearby hospital, where the doctors declared him dead on arrival.
The Jharkhand police Thursday arrested two persons, auto driver Lakhan Verma and his helper Rahul Verma, in connection with the case.
The arrests were made following the recovery of the three-wheeler involved in the incident, Senior Superintendent of Police, Dhanbad, Sanjiv Kumar, had said, adding the three-wheeler recovered from Giridih is registered in a woman's name.
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