INDIA.Jharkhand: The additional sessions judge Uttam Anand was brutally murdered on July 28, 2021. A special CBI court in Jharkhand declared the autorickshaw driver Lakhan Verma and Rahul Verma guilty of the murder.
The 49 years old was hit by an auto-rickshaw, last year at Randhir Verma Chowk, Dhanbad. This incident took place around 5:30 am when the judge was going for his morning walk.
This incident was recorded on CCTV, thus the court pronounced the punishment to both the accused. The CBI sentenced the guilty a lifelong imprisonment till death and the addition of the Rs 20,000 penalty under IPC Section 302 (murder) is to be charged from them.
The CBI also imposed Rs 10,000 fine on both the accused, under IPC Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of the offence, giving false information to protect the offender).
The defence counsel Kumar Bimlendu said, “For IPC sections 302, 34, the convicts were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment till death, and Rs 20,000 fine, each. For IPC Section 201, the court sentenced 10 years of imprisonment and Rs 10,000, each. However, the detailed court judgment will be out on Tuesday.”
The Supreme Court had last year taken suo motu cognisance of the judge’s sad death and sought a status report on the matter from Jharkhand’s chief secretary and DGP. Additional CBI public prosecutor Amit Jindal said the court found that the two accused were not drunk.
According to the CBI, the crime was committed intentionally and the killing of a judge is considered a crime of the highest order. The spine-chilling crime was caught on CCTV showing the judge was jogging on one side of a wide road when the three-wheeler came from behind and pushed him to death.
It was a hit-and-run case as both the accused flew instantly from the crime spot. Previously the case was handled by the Jharkhand government which was later handed over to the CBI.
Defence lawyer Kumar Bimelendu, while speaking to the media, stated that the “CBI concocted murder theory”. He clarified that Lakhan and Rahul would challenge the verdict in a higher court.
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