Judicial officer accused in SC-transferred hit-and-run case dies of cardiac arrest

Judicial officer accused in SC-transferred hit-and-run case dies of cardiac arrest

New Delhi, A judicial officer accused in a hit-and-run case whose trial was recently transferred by the Supreme Court from Punjab to Delhi has died in Punjab's Hoshiarpur district.

Judicial officer accused in SC-transferred hit-and-run case dies of cardiac arrest

Pankaj Garg, who was serving as a judicial magistrate first class in the Hoshiarpur district court, died due to a suspected cardiac arrest.

Garg hailed from Kalanwali in Haryana's Sirsa district and was serving in the Punjab judicial services at the time of his death.

His death comes days after the Supreme Court transferred the trial in the alleged hit-and-run case involving him from a court in Punjab to a trial court in Rohini, Delhi.

Last October, a top court bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi allowed a plea by the family of the deceased in the hit-and-run case seeking transfer of the trial, alleging bias as the accused was a judicial officer.

During the hearing, the counsel representing Garg said he had no objection to the transfer of trial from Punjab to Delhi, but suggested that the case be shifted to a court in Noida in Uttar Pradesh, citing that the victim's sister-in-law was a practising advocate in Delhi.

The bench, however, ordered that the trial be transferred to the court of an additional chief metropolitan magistrate in the national capital.

The apex court also transferred another case filed by the victim's wife seeking a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation , stating that if any further investigation was required, it would be conducted by Delhi Police.

In addition, a Motor Accident Claims Tribunal case related to the matter was transferred from Kullu in Himachal Pradesh to a court in Delhi.

According to the victim's wife, her husband died in February last year after being hit by a car allegedly driven by Garg.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.