Deepali Kalia-
Published on: August 09, 2021, at 16:43 IST
On 9th August, the Supreme Court directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to submit a weekly progress report in the case of suspicious killing of Judge Uttam Anand, Additional District and Sessions Judge at Dhanbad, to the Jharkhand High Court and requested that the Chief Justice of the High Court monitor the probe.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices Vineet Saran, Surya Kant also noted that the report which was submitted by CBI regarding the case was lacking in important details such as the motive or reason behind the suspicious killing.
“There is nothing in the sealed cover,” the Chief Justice of India (CJI), NV Ramana told Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India, who replied that all the developments in the case since the agency took charge of the matter were contained in the sealed cover.
The CJI further remarked, “Mr. Mehta, that is not the issue that we want. We want something concrete. Your people have not indicated anything about the motive or reason.”
All the persons who were sitting inside the vehicle which had knocked down Judge Uttam Anand are currently under custody and not much can be revealed as the interrogation of the accused is still underway, the Solicitor General said in response.
The Apex Court Bench had issued directions while dealing with its Suo-moto case regarding the death of Judge Uttam Anand, who on 28th July while on his morning jog was knocked down by an auto-rickshaw.
CCTV footage of the disturbing incident indicating foul play had gone viral.
On 30th July, the Supreme Court had taken Suo-moto cognizance of the incident and consequently had sought a status report on the probe from the Jharkhand’s Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police within a week.
Upon the Jharkhand Government’s recommendation for a probe, the CBI had registered the matter under sec 302(murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and named Vijay Kumar Shukla, the Additional Superintendent of Police, CBI as Investigating Officer in the case.
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