Dhanbad (Jharkhand): The CBI has taken the two accused in the high profile Dhanbad judge death case on remand for 10 days and has taken both of them to Delhi in connection with the investigation.
Both the accused – Rahul Verma and Lakhan Verma – in the suspicious death of Additional District Judge Uttam Anand were presented by the CBI in court. The CBI sought the remand of the two accused for 10 days telling the court that there are some investigations that will need around seven days and both of them will have to be taken to Delhi.
The CBI Wednesday took both the accused on remand for 10 days for interrogation. The court had August 6 handed over the two to the CBI for five days, the period of which ends Thursday.
A special CBI team led by SP Jagroop S Sinha and ASP-cum-case investigator Vijay Kumar Shukla reached the court with the accused in three vehicles at around 11 am Wednesday and presented them in the court of Dhanbad CBI Special Judicial Magistrate Shikha Agarwal here. The CBI sought their custody for 10 days.
Also read: Postmortem reveals Judge Uttam Anand died due to head injury
The CBI told the court that the accused need to be tested further so that the truth can be ascertained and this will take at least seven more days. The court was told that the accused may also have to be taken out of Dhanbad to conduct the test due to which 10 days' remand should be given. After this, the court remanded both the accused to the CBI for 10 days.
It is learnt that the CBI team has taken both the accused to Delhi for a narco test. The CBI August 9 had taken permission from the court for multiple tests of both the accused.
Judge Uttam Anand had gone out for a morning walk July 28 when he was hit by an autorickshaw. He fell down on the road seriously injured following which some people present at the spot rushed him to a hospital. Doctors there, however, declared him brought dead.
On the same day, a video of the CCTV footage went viral, in which the circumstances of the accident looked suspicious. In the footage, it was seen that the autorickshaw had moved towards Judge Anand on the roadside in a suspicious manner. Some people were also sitting in the auto.
After the incident, an FIR was registered against the unknown auto driver at Dhanbad's Sadar police station based on the statement of Judge Uttam Anand's wife.
After the FIR was registered, an SIT was constituted under the leadership of ADG (Operations) Sanjay Anand Lathkar on the instructions of the Jharkhand State Police Headquarters. The SIT had not found any evidence related to a planned murder in its investigation. At the same time, the Supreme Court and the High Court had also taken cognizance of this matter. The matter is being monitored by the Jharkhand High Court.
Also read: SC asks Jharkhand HC to monitor CBI probe in Dhanbad judge death on 'weekly basis'
The Jharkhand government July 30 had recommended a CBI probe. The investigating agency then arrested the auto driver and his accomplice. The CBI also recreated the scene of the incident in Dhanbad and got it videographed. Now, four tests are to be done on the accused, including narco test.
At the time of the incident, Judge Uttam Anand was hearing the famous Ranjay Singh murder case. Ranjay Singh was considered very close to Sanjeev Singh, the Dhanbad strongman and former MLA of Jharia. A few days ago, Uttam Anand had rejected the bail applications of shooters Abhinav Singh and Ravi Thakur. It is feared that the death of the ADJ may be connected with the hearing in the Ranjay Singh murder case.
