Dhanbad: The special investigation team (SIT) is probing the death of Dhanbad Judge Uttam Anand from all angles. It will reach a conclusion soon, SIT chief and Additional Director General (ADG) of Police Sanjay Anand Latkar said Monday. The 49-year-old district session judge was allegedly mowed down by a heavy auto-rickshaw while he was on morning jog July 28 morning here.
After marathon meetings of SIT at Circuit House this evening, ADG Latkar said the team reviewed the progress of development in investigation. The SIT team is closely keeping a vigil on all aspects related to the case in the course of ongoing probe. The state government had July 29 set up a SIT to probe the incident under ADG Latkar.
“SIT is investigating the case in a professional way and would take help of scientific techniques in probe for resolving the case,” Latkar said addressing mediapersons. The ADG said that SIT would reach a conclusion in the case soon after probing all facts and figures of the incident.
Latkar said two persons were arrested in the case – auto driver driver Lakhan Verma and his accomplice Rahul Verma. They have been sent in judicial custody Monday after completion of five days police remand. Police had taken both on five days remand on the night of July 29.
Police have so far detained 243 suspects during a special drive post the judge death case. Also 17 persons have been arrested and 250 auto-rickshaws seized, Senior Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Kumar said. Two police officers have also been suspended, including one for making the CCTV footage of the incident public. Police have also searched 53 hotels of the district, informed Kumar.
Though the police recovered the auto-rickshaw that hit the judge when he was out on the morning walk, in a special drive, 250 auto-rickshaws that had documents irregularities were seized, the officer said.
There are about 16,000 auto-rickshaws registered with the Transport Department here.
Sub Inspector Adarsh Kumar was suspended for making the CCTV footage public, Kumar said. Pathardih police station’s officer-in-charge Umesh Manjhi was suspended Saturday for lodging FIR about an auto-rickshaw theft two days after the accident. Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Saturday decided to hand over the probe to the CBI.
The Jharkhand government had set up a SIT to crack the judge’s death case, which triggered a nationwide outrage. The leaked CCTV footage showed that the judge was jogging on one side of a fairly wide road at Randhir Verma Chowk morning when an auto-rickshaw veered towards him, hit him from behind and fled the scene.