Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 30: Calling it a “gruesome incident,” the Supreme Court Friday took suo motu cognizance of death of Dhanbad additional district and sessions judge Uttam Anand in an “accident” that the police suspect was a deliberate and premeditated hit-and-run incident to kill the judicial authority.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana and comprising justice Surya Kant said it was taking suo motu cognizance of the matter as incidents of attacks on judicial officers and the legal fraternity was happening across the country. However, it made clear that the proceedings before the Jharkhand High Court to monitor the probe into the death of the judicial officer would continue.
“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.
Judge Uttam Anand was killed in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district after being hit by a vehicle. The incident was recorded in CCTV footage, which later went viral. The judge was found to be lying in a pool of blood by an auto-rickshaw driver, who took him to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
CCTV Footage gave out the truth what was made out to look like a “road accident.” The sessions judge while on his routine morning walk was “hit” by a stolen auto-rickshaw and was killed on the spot. The CCTV footage showed that the auto-rickshaw deliberate swerved towards Anand walking on one side of the totally empty road, hit and crushed him and ran away.
The police have filed a murder case after seeing the CCTV footage. The Dhanbad police on Thursday also recovered from neighbouring Giridh district the auto-rickshaw which was stolen from Dhanbad district and arrested two persons believed to have been riding the vehicle when it hit the judge.
The police also formed a 14-member special investigation team (SIT) headed by additional director general of police Sanjay Anand Lathkar to investigate the matter after the Jharkhand high court on Thursday took suo motu cognizance of the incident. The CJI Ramana too spoke to the chief justice of the Jharkhand high court Ravi Ranjan on the issue.
The Jharkhand Director General of police Neeraj Sinha and Dhanbad senior superintendent of police Sanjeev Kumar attended the hearing in the high court in person and provided details of the investigation to the bench of the chief justice.
“Prima facie it appears that the additional district judge has been killed deliberately. The police took immediate action and arrested the two persons who were riding the vehicle and recovered the auto-rickshaw. Their interrogation is on. A 14-member SIT has also been constituted to investigate the incident. It is a very sensitive matter and we will ensure that probe is completed and conduct a speedy trial and punish the guilty,” said Jharkhand advocate general Rajiv Ranjan, who appeared on behalf of the government before the high court.
Responding to the bench’s remark that it would transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation if the investigation was not done professionally, the AG said while it was prerogative of the court to do this, the progress in investigation after the incident had been satisfactory.
“Based on facts that came up during investigation and the CCTV camera footage, two people and the auto involved in the crime were identified. Two persons, identified as Lakhan Kumar Verma and Rahul Verma have been arrested and the auto was seized from their possession. They have confessed to the crime. Further investigation will be done carefully,” said Amol V Homkar, inspector general (operations).
Jharkhand police officials said they were investigating the possibility of the incident being linked to an order or any action by the judge. No link has yet been revealed, said sources.
“However, the motive is not clear yet. The auto was stolen from Jharia on Tuesday night. Both are being questioned and will be arrested and sent to judicial custody,” Bokaro DIG Mayur Patel had said.
While the police are yet to reveal the motive of the alleged killers, the family of the judge, who was cremated in his hometown Hazaribagh, demanded a CBI probe. “The CCTV camera footage makes it very clear that it has been done as part of conspiracy. We demand an impartial probe headed by a judge or the CBI,” Subham Sambhu, younger brother of Anand had said.
Judge Anand was reportedly hearing some high profile criminal cases. He recently rejected the bail plea of a gangster from Uttar Pradesh who is in jail in connection with a high profile murder case of Dhanbad.
Dhanbad court records show that the 36 orders passed by judge Anand in July also cover cases of alleged sexual harassment, sale of fake lottery tickets and the alleged diversion of scholarships meant for minority school students which was investigated by a media house.
On Thursday, the CJI had said that he had spoken to the Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice in this regard after Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) president and senior advocate Vikas Singh made a demand for an independent probe by CBI into the death of Anand.
Mentioning the matter before the Supreme Court, initially before a bench headed by Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and later before CJI NV Ramana, Singh said: “This is an attack on judicial independence. If judiciary has to remain independent, judges have to be safe. An ADJ cannot be killed in this manner. This matter should be probed by CBI as local police can be complicit.”
CJI Ramana who specially took up the case told the SCBA President that he has spoken to chief justice Ravi Ranjan of Jharkhand high court, who assured him that the matter will be taken up by the high court on the judicial side. “The chief justice of the high court has spoken to Senior Superintendent of Police, Dhanbad. Even the secretary general (of the Supreme Court) spoke to registrar general of the high court this morning. If there is any need for us to be involved, we will take it up.”
The CJI appreciated the concern shown by the Bar saying, “We are overwhelmed at the initiative shown by SCBA. We appreciate the steps taken but let us not jump into conclusions.”
Suspecting it to be a murder, Singh said that the ADJ recently rejected the bail of a notorious gangster and the matter needed probe.
Singh informed the court that the CCTV camera footage of the incident showed it was not an accident. Suspecting it to be a case of murder, Singh said the matter needed to be probed. “There cannot be a more brazen attack on a judge than this. Any judge in this country can be attacked. This is a serious matter.”
Earlier in the day, Singh spoke to chief justice of Jharkhand high court and conveyed his demand for a CBI probe into the ADJ’s death.
