Cellphone robbery could be motive behind Dhanbad judge’s murder: CBI

Jharkhand: The Central Bureau Of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the murder of Dhanbad Court Judge Uttam Anand, told the Jharkhand High Court that the accused wanted to steal a cellphone which led to the murder of the judge.

A division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad was hearing the matter when the CBI officials gave this statement before the court. However, the bench was not satisfied with the reply of the central probe agency officials.

The bench said that there was nothing new in the probe of the CBI and each time the latter come up with a new angle to drag the matter.

“The CBI officials are now saying that Judge Uttam Anand was killed for cellphone robbery. But CCTV tells a different picture. As per the CCTV footage it could be seen that he was killed intentionally,” said the Chief Justice.

The CBI officials said that they conducted a narco test and brain mapping of the accused but didn’t find anything. The CBI has conducted a few more tests and was waiting for the report which it will receive on January 10.

The court said that as the CBI has not found anything, this matter is leading towards “mystery of unexplained case”. It added that due to this the accused are getting time and there will be difficulties in gathering more evidence.

The CBI said that it has questioned 200 people in this connection to make their case strong, adding that the chargesheet under a murder section has already been filed.

The court said that they don’t doubt the effort of the CBI but without intention how will they prove the guilt of the accused.

The court has now fixed January 14 as the next date of hearing.

Uttam Anand was the judge of Dhanbad Court. On July 28, 2021, Anand was on a morning walk when he was murdered. He was hit by an auto-rickshaw and suffered severe injuries and later died during the course of treatment.

Initially, the matter was being probed by the Jharkhand Police. Later the CBI took over the investigation following an order of the Jharkhand HC. Two persons were arrested in this murder case.