A special CBI court on Thursday convicted both the accused in connection with the murder of Dhanbad Additional District Judge Uttam Anand. Rahul Kumar Verma and Lakhan Kumar Verma were convicted under Sections 302, 201 and 34 of IPC. Hearing on quantum of sentence will be on August 6.
The judge was killed after an autorickshaw hit him on July 28, 2021, while he was on a morning walk. CCTV footage showed the judge jogging on one side of a road when the autorickshaw veered towards him and hit him from behind. He was rushed to the Dhanbad Medical College and Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Dhanbad police seized the vehicle from Giridih district and arrested the auto-rickshaw driver Lakhan Verma and his assistant Rahul Verma.
After the CCTV footage surfaced, the Jharkhand government formed an SIT to probe the matter. But, later it recommended CBI probe into the death.
The CBI re-registered the case and filed the chargesheet in October last year. The sessions court framed charges on February 2 this year. The trial was eventually completed after 35 hearings.
The Jharkhand High Court had on multiple occasions pulled up CBI in the case. In January this year, the HC reprimanded the CBI for not properly conducting the probe and said there was a greater conspiracy into the matter that needs to be unearthed.
In October, it had rapped the agency for filing a "stereotype" charge-sheet in the case, saying it could not substantiate the charges made against the accused.