Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren calls for CBI probe into death of Dhanbad judge

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren Saturday recommended CBI to take over the probe into the death of Dhanbad Additional Sessions Judge Uttam Anand who passed away following an alleged hit-and-run incident on Wednesday.

An SIT constituted by the Jharkhand Police has arrested two accused in connection with the incident.

Just in: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren Saturday ‘ordered’ for a CBI investigation into the death of Dhanbad Judge Uttam Anand. Jharkhand Police SIT had arrested two accused. However, motive has not been clear yet. @IndianExpress

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Taking suo motu cognisance of the incident, the Supreme Court said Friday that the “gruesome incident” has “larger ramifications”. A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant directed the Jharkhand Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) to jointly submit a report in a week’s time on the status of the investigation into the incident.

According to sources in the police, the accused have allegedly told investigators that they were drunk at the time of the incident. “We have sent their blood and urine samples for tests to get it on record. We are yet to ascertain any motive behind the incident,” said a source. “One of them, Lakhan Verma, is a hardened criminal and it will take time to get information out of them.”

Family members have said they were unaware of any threat to the judge. A Special Investigation Team headed by Jharkhand ADG Operations Sanjay Anand Latkar questioned the accused and formed teams to ascertain their criminal antecedents among other aspects.