An Additional District Judge (ADJ) of Dhanbad district, Uttam Anand, died after being hit by a three-wheeler in broad daylight on Wednesday. The CCTV footage of the incident suggested foul play, as the vehicle moved left from its lane to hit the judge when there was no other vehicle in that spot. The incident was brought to the notice of the Supreme Court by Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Vikas Singh who demanded a CBI probe into the shocking incident.
Singh had mentioned before the SC bench of Justice DY Chandrahcud that the murder of a judicial officer for not granting bail to a gangster is an assault on the judiciary. He said, “this is a brazen attack on the independence of the judiciary. The video of the incident, which went viral, was taken by someone who had prior knowledge of the attack”.
Singh said murder of a judicial officer for not granting bail to a gangster is an assault on judiciary. He said “this is a brazen attack on independence of judiciary. The video of the incident, which went viral, was taken by someone who had prior knowledge of the attack.
— The Times Of India (@timesofindia) July 29, 2021
According to reports, Judge Anand had recently rejected a bail plea filed by an alleged contract killer Ravi Thakur and Anand Verma from Uttar Pradesh, who are linked to gangsters Abhinav Singh and Aman Singh. Ravi Thakur is currently lodged in Dhanbad jail for his alleged involvement in a high-profile murder case of Ranjay Singh.
‘Person seen zooming in the visuals as if to ascertain that the judge was killed’, SCBA president tells SC while demanding a CBI inquiry
The SCBA president appeared certain that the Dhanbad Judge was killed for rejecting the bail application of the gangsters. The fact that someone was recording the entire act is proof enough that Judge Anand was murdered, said Advocate Vikas Singh.
He also told the Supreme Court that a person was seen zooming in the visuals as if to ascertain if the judge was killed and it was shocking. He demanded that the probe into the killing of the senior judicial officer must be entrusted to the CBI.
Disturbing CCTV visuals of the vehicle attacking the judge during his morning walk on public road in Dhanbad had emerged yesterday.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) July 29, 2021
Vikas Singh told the Supreme Court that a person was seen zooming the visuals as if to ascertain if the judge was killed and it was shocking. pic.twitter.com/Lcej07wiEc
However, the advocate seems to be mistaken about the video, as it was captured by a CCTV camera and was not recorded by someone ‘having prior knowledge about the incident’. The footage has ‘RV Chouk to Police Line’ written on lower right corner, which means that it was captured by CCTV cameras mounted on traffic light poles. The video which has emerged is not the original video, but it was video recorded from a monitor playing the CCTV footage. This video was zoomed in while recording the original video, and there is no zooming in the original CCTV video.
Therefore, although the incident in the video shows that it was probably an intentional act, the fact that it was recorded on camera is not proof that it was a murder, as it is from a CCTV which remains on all the time.
The case of the ‘road accident’ of Dhanbad Judge being probed by SIT
Earlier in the day, it was reported that the Police formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the case. Police said in a statement that the SIT would analyze the footage of other CCTV cameras in the area to identify the vehicle and to see if there was a pattern.
The CCTV footage which emerged shows a three-wheeler suddenly turning to the extreme left of the road and hitting the Judge. It did not stop even for a second and fled the scene.
As per the reports, the incident happened at around 5 AM on July 28, when Judge Anand was jogging. The passers-by rushed him to Medical College, Dhanbad, where he was declared brought dead.
