Judge Uttam Anand death case: Special CBI court frames charges against 2 accused

CBI filed the charge sheet in the case on October 20 last year, charging 22-year-old Lakhan Verma and 21-year-old Rahul Verma for murder and destruction of evidence

RANCHI: A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on Wednesday framed charges against two accused in connection with the mysterious death of former judge Uttam Anand in Jharkhand last year.

Uttam Anand, the 49-year-old additional district judge, died after being hit by an autorickshaw when he was out for a morning walk in Dhanbad on July 28 last year. (Archive)

Anand, the 49-year-old additional district judge, died after being hit by an autorickshaw when he was out for a morning walk in Dhanbad on July 28 last year.

“The court of Rajnikant Pathak framed the charges against Lakhan Verma and Rahul Verma under sections 302 (murder), 201(destruction of evidence) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). All these sections were mentioned in the charge sheet,” confirmed Kumar Bimlendu, the counsel of the two accused, adding that the court has fixed February 21 as the next date of hearing.

When contacted, senior CBI counsel Rajiv Sinha refused to comment on details of proceedings on Wednesday.

CBI, which is probing the case under monitoring of the Jharkhand high court, filed the charge sheet in the case on October 20 last year, charging 22-year-old Lakhan and 21-year-old Rahul for murder and destruction of evidence.

Last month, a division bench of Jharkhand high court, comprising chief justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and justice Sujeet Narayan Prasad, which is monitoring the case, raised questions over the probe status as the central agency is yet to establish the motive of the two accused behind the murder.

A 20-member special investigation team (SIT) of the central agency has been probing the case since August last year. However, the premier investigating agency changed the entire probe team two weeks after the Jharkhand HC criticised it.