Jharkhand: CBI takes over probe into Dhanbad judge’s death, registers FIR

The CBI on Wednesday registered an FIR into the death of Dhanbad district judge Uttam Anand, who was knocked down by an autorickshaw on a visibly empty road on July 28, as CCTV footage showed.

The CBI registered the case under IPC Section 302 (murder) after the Jharkhand government recommended for a probe by the investigating agency.

The agency’s FIR stated that Vijay Kumar Shukla, Additional Superintendent of Police, CBI, is the investigating officer of the case.

The FIR stated: “The case is re-registered in CBI SC-I, New Delhi on 4.8.2021 in pursuance of the notification… dated 30.7.2021 issued by the State Government…. Accordingly, investigation of case FIR no. 300/2021 dated 28.7.2021 under section 302 of Dhanbad PS is taken up by re-registering the same as this regular case.”

Earlier, Jharkhand Police had constituted an SIT and arrested two accused who were in the autorickshaw. The vehicle’s owner was also arrested subsequently. The motive of the crime is not known yet.

The SIT had drawn Jharkhand High Court’s ire over the delay in registering the FIR. The HC also came down heavily on Jharkhand Police, which was probing the case. The court said that the state police were “feeding questions” to get “a particular answer”, which is “not appreciated”.

The court also noted that the autopsy report said the death was “caused by hard and blunt substance due to head injury”, and asked why the police were asking if such injuries were possible due to a fall.