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A Jharkhand Court has framed charges against an autorickshaw driver and his assistant in the case pertaining to the death of Judge Uttam Anand in Dhanbad.

The Additional District & Sessions Judge-III had framed charges against accused Lakhan Kumar Verma and Rahul Kumar Verma for commission of offences under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (disappearance of evidence) read with Section 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

Recently, the Jharkhand High Court had lambasted the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for its "laxity" in probing the death of Dhanbad judge Uttam Anand.

The Court noted that it looked as if the agency was trying to quit the investigation and even protect the accused.

According to a news report, the division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice S N Prasad, while taking note of the report of the narco-analysis test of the two accused had observed that when the auto-driver and his accomplice knew that Anand was a judge before hitting him, how could the CBI come up with the theory of murder for robbing a mobile phone?

Further rejecting the CBI's theory, the bench had said that the agency has failed to get down to the bottom of the matter.

"The investigation into the case raises a question on the credibility of the CBI. It seems that the agency is now tired of the case and wants to quit the investigation, which is why it is making up stories so that the accused are not charged with murder. The probe is going in such a direction that it appears that the CBI is trying to protect the accused," the bench noted.

According to the news sources, the narco-analysis test report was read out in court. In the report, the autorickshaw driver's assistant Rahul stated,

"Lakhan was driving the autorickshaw fast. I was sitting on the left side. The judge was jogging slowly. He had a handkerchief in his left hand. Lakhan hit the judge intentionally and he collapsed on the ground."

It was also mentioned that the reports found that someone had assigned them the task to kill the judge.

“When the report of the narco-analysis test was conducted by the CBI it was stated that both the accused knew the judge beforehand and they did not find his mobile phone, how can the investigating agency now say that he was murdered for a mobile phone?,” questioned the bench.

The CBI had informed that it was planning to conduct another narco-analysis test, on which the Bench wondered if there was a need for another such test after four months and if the report contradicted the previous one, which one was to be believed.

The CBI had earlier presented a map showing the judge's morning walk route and stated that the entire area was under CCTV surveillance, and all the mobile phones active in the area at that time were examined but no communication was found between the accused and anyone else.

Background

Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan of the Jharkhand High Court had previously taken suo motu cognizance of the death of a district judge in Dhanbad.

The judge was killed in Dhanbad city of Jharkhand after being hit by an autorickshaw while he was on a morning walk on Wednesday morning. The incident took place at Randhir Verma Chowk near Dhanbad District Court under Sadar police station area. 

The CCTV footage of the incident suggests that the autorickshaw hit the judge from the back and fled from the spot. The judge was rushed to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.