Dhanbad judge death case: Pathardih police station officer suspended for not registering FIR on time

The Officer-in-charge of Jharkhand’s Pathardih Police Station, Umesh Manjhi, has been suspended for not registering an FIR on time in connection with the death of Dhanbad Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Uttam Anand who passed away following an alleged hit-and-run incident on Wednesday.

Dhanbad SSP Sanjeev Kumar has confirmed Manjhi’s suspension, ANI reported.

Anand had gone for a morning walk at Randhir Verma Chowk on Wednesday when an auto-rickshaw came from behind, swerved sharply to the left and drove him away after hitting him. A passerby took Anand to a hospital but he succumbed to his injuries later.

The Jharkhand government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the incident after police opened a murder investigation and arrested two persons in connection with the incident.

Police sources said the two arrested men claimed they were “drunk” at the time of the incident.

On Saturday, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren recommended a CBI investigation into the incident. He also took to Twitter to announce his decision to recommend a CBI probe into the incident.

A day earlier, the Supreme Court, taking suo motu cognisance of Anand’s death on July 28, had said that the “gruesome incident” had “larger ramifications”, and the court would address larger questions of security for judges across the country.