Dhanbad judge death case: CBI announces Rs 5 lakh reward on credible information

New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for any information about the death of Dhanbad Additional District Judge (ADJ) Uttam Anand.

A notice from the CBI reads, ‘If any person is having any kind of information of importance related to the murder of Uttam Anand, he/she may kindly inform CBI, Special Crime-I, New Delhi, camp CSIR Satkar Guest House, Dhanbad on the phone numbers. Cash reward of Rs 5 lakh will be given to the person who will furnish worthwhile information relating to the crime.’

‘The name of the informant will be kept secret,’ it said. The CBI filed a case on August 4 concerning the death of Dhanbad Additional District Judge Uttam Anand at the request of the Jharkhand government and established a Special Investigation Team.

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Currently, a 20-member SIT is camping in Dhanbad to investigate the case. Dhanbad police had earlier registered a case on a complaint from Anand`s wife against an unknown auto driver. He was killed in an auto-rickshaw accident on July 28 while out for a morning walk.

The Jharkhand government formed an SIT to investigate the CCTV footage after it came to light. Later, it recommended that the CBI investigate the death. Even though the special investigation team has arrested a total of 17 people so far, including auto-rickshaw driver Lakhan Verma and his associate Rahul Verma, there have been no breakthroughs. The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday ordered the CBI to begin the investigation into the death of the judge as soon as possible, so that no evidence is destroyed. All logistics support and documents must be provided to the CBI by the state government.

The court also ordered the Jharkhand Director General of Police to provide security for judicial officers in the state, and to ensure security guards at their residences. Furthermore, the commission wanted to know about the delay in filing the FIR since the incident occurred at 5.08 am and the FIR was filed at 12.45 pm.