Dhanbad judge hit by auto dies, police launch murder probe

Police have instituted a murder probe after the death of an Additional Sessions Judge of Dhanbad after he was hit by an autorickhaw on Wednesday.

The police said that ASJ Uttam Anand had gone for a morning walk at Randhir Verma Chowk when the incident occurred. A passerby took him to a hospital around 5.30 am. However, he soon succumbed to injuries.

Dhanbad SSP Sanjeev Kumar said: “We have instituted a case of murder and are investigating all possible angles. We have retrieved CCTV footage of the said incident. However, we haven’t got any motive yet.”

No arrests have been made so far.

The CCTV footage — which has gone viral — shows a man, who the family says is the deceased judge, jogging on the road towards the police line. It later shows an auto rickshaw manoeuvring from the centre of the one-way road to the left, hitting the man and driving off.

In her complaint to the police, the judge’s wife Kriti Sinha wrote that her husband left the house at 5 am and when he did not return for long, the family started looking for him. “He was taken to the hospital by locals and an autowala hit him from behind. Please take legal action,” the complaint said.

Superintendent of Shaheed Nirmal Mahato Medical College and Hospital Arun Kumar Choudhary said: “The patient was admitted as unknown around 5.30 am. He had sustained an injury to the back of his head. He succumbed to his injuries around 8.30 am.”

Prabhat Sinha, a lawyer with the Jharkhand High Court, said: “It is a clear case of murder. The CCTV footage clearly shows that the auto driver intentionally hitting the judge.”