Dhanbad Judge Death Case: Two Accused Convicted of Murder, Sentencing on 6 Aug

Additional District Judge Uttam Anand was killed in a road incident on 28 July in Jharkhand's Dhanbad.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A special court in Jharkhand's Dhanbad on Thursday, 28 July, convicted both accused persons in connection with the murder of Additional District Judge (ADJ) Uttam Anand.

The judge convicted autorickshaw driver Lakhan Kumar Verma and his helper Rahul Kumar Verma for offences under Sections 302 (murder) and 201 (disappearance of evidence) read with Section 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Bar and Bench reported.

The hearing on quantum of sentence will take place on 6 August.

ASJ Anand was hit by an autorickshaw when he was for a morning walk and the incident was captured on CCTV. The deceased was later suspected to have been murdered.

The judge suffered severe injuries and later died during treatment.

Following the circumstances under which Anand died, Dhanbad Police handed over two local residents they had arrested in the matter to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe into the re-registered murder case.

The CBI, which probed the case under the monitoring of the Jharkhand High Court, filed a charge sheet in the court on 20 October last year, claiming that one of the accused, Rahul Kumar Verma, is a “professional thief" who keeps looking for vulnerable targets” and that his alleged accomplice Lakhan Verma had been “looking for a chance to execute the plan,” The Indian Express reported.

Due to outrage after the incident, the Supreme Court had also registered a suo motu case on safeguarding courts and ensuring protection and security of judges.

The CBI had stated in the charge sheet that the autorickshaw had rammed deliberately and intentionally causing the ADJ’s death.

However, in January, a division bench of Jharkhand High Court had raised questions over the probe status as the central agency is yet to establish a motive behind the murder.

(With inputs from The Indian Express and Bar and Bench.)