Judge mowed down by auto, HC says ‘attack on judiciary'

J’khand Cops File Murder Case; Two Arrested

- Anil Asutosh

A Jharkhand additional district judge, who had been hearing some “sensitive cases”, was killed in an apparent road accident during his morning walk in Dhanbad on Wednesday.

The Jharkhand high court Thursday pulled up the state government over “delay” in filing of the FIR and said this incident and another — the murder of advocate Manoj Jha in Ranchi on Monday — were a direct attack on the “justice dispensation system.” Bar associations of the Supreme Court, the HC and Dhanbad courts demanded a CBI probe into the case.

A CCTV footage of Wednesday’s incident shows Uttam Anand had come out of his Judges’ Colony home for a walk at 5 am. Minutes later, an auto-rickshaw sped up from behind and ran over him a few metres away from Randhir Verma Square, an upmarket locality in Dhanbad. A passerby took the injured judge to hospital, where he was declared “brought dead.”

Police lodged a case of murder on a complaint by Kriti Sinha, wife of the judge, and arrested two persons. Following HC’s orders, police formed an SIT to probe the incident.