Death of district judge in Dhanbad: Jharkhand HC takes cognisance

New Delhi, July 30: The Jharkhand High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the killing of a district judge in Dhanbad.

"A judge has been killed. Whether it is an accident or murder we need to find it. It is a very sensitive case and hence the court has taken suo moto cognizance," advocate general Rajiv Ranjan said according to an ANI report.

The death of a judge in Jharkhand initially to believed to be a hit and run case took a turn after security footage allegedly pointed towards murder.

The incident was raised in the Supreme Court today and Chief Justice of India N V Ramanna said that he had spoken to the Jharkhand High Court. He said that the SC would not like to step in at this stage and added, "we are aware of this case and we will take care."

The driver of the tempo that hit the District and Additional Judge, Uttam Anand has been arrested in Dhanbad. The judge was on his morning run yesterday when he was hit by the vehicle just half a kilometre from his residence in Dhanbad.

The footage showed the judge jogging at around 5 am when a tempo takes a turn and appeared to go straight at him. The tempo hits the judge and then drives off.

The judge was found fallen on the road bleeding. He was then taken to hospital where he passed away. While judge remained unidentified for several hours, it was only after the family filed a missing complaint the police tracked him down to a hospital.

The judge had been handling several cases relating to the mafia killings in Dhanbad and had recently rejected the bail of two gangsters.

"The High Court Chief Justice has taken up the issue and the case is now on at the High Court. We are aware of the case and we will take care," Justice Ramanna said. If we interfere at this stage then it will hamper the probe, the CJI also said.

Advocate Vikas Singh had raised the issue in the SC and said that it is a brazen attack on the judiciary.

He also demanded a CBI probe, while stating that the local police is usually complicit in such matters.