SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Sept 29: The CBI team investigating the killing of Dhanbad Additional District and Session Judge (ADJ) Uttam Anand has taken both the suspects on remand for the third time in order to obtain a breakthrough. This comes after the team had already increased the bounty to Rs. 10 lakh for the informers.
According to an official, the CBI team had requested a 10-day remand, but the court of Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) Abhishek Srivastava granted only six days for interrogation on Tuesday evening. Both of the accused were taken from the Dhanbad jail by the CBI.
On July 28, Uttam Anand, ADJ-8 of Dhanbad, was killed in a road accident while out for a morning stroll. The event occurred near the district court in Randhir Verma Chowk. An auto purposefully hit him from behind, according to CCTV evidence. On the same day, police detained driver Lakhan Verma and his associate Rahul Verma, as well as recovering the vehicle involved in the collision from Giridih.
On July 29, the state government’s Special Investigating Team (SIT) had placed Lakhan and Rahul on remand for five days.
After taking over the case from Jharkhand police on August 4, the CBI placed both of the accused on a five-day remand for the first time on August 7. On August 11, the CBI team placed them on a 10-day remand and obtained a Narco test in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Both accused were sent to judicial custody on September 4.
After failing to obtain a breakthrough during the interrogation of both defendants, the CBI team offered a reward of Rs 5 lakh on August 15 for information concerning the incident’s conspirator. On September 8, after returning from Ahmedabad following the Narco test, the CBI increased the amount to Rs 10 lakh. However, the investigation agency is yet to make any progress in the case.
