As investigation into the alleged murder of Dhanbad Additional District Judge Uttam Anand continues, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has announced Rs 5 lakh reward to anyone who provides any "worthwhile information" in connection to the case, adding that the name of the person will be kept confidential, The New Indian Express reported on Sunday, 15 August.
“If any person has any kind of knowledge or information of importance related to his murder, he/she may kindly information the CBI, Special Crime-I, New Delhi, Camp CSIR Satkar Guest House, Dhanbad on the phone numbers given below.
Cash reward of Rs 500000 (Rs 5 lakh ) will be given to the person who will furnish worthwhile information related to the crime,” the poster read.
The 49-year-old judge was mowed down by a vehicle while he was out for a morning jog on 28 July in Dhanbad, Jharkhand.
CCTV footage showed that he was jogging on one side of the road at Randhir Verma Chowk when a heavy auto-rickshaw changed its lane and hit the judge from behind which led to his death. He was declared brought dead at the hospital.
The vehicle was later recovered from Giridih district on the night of the incident and investigation had revealed that it was stolen on 27 July.
The Jharkhand government had initially formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case, but, later had asked the CBI to take over the probe, which registered a case on 4 August.
Meanwhile, on 30 July, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognizance – taking up a case by its own will – of the case.
"We direct the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP) of Jharkhand to submit a report in a week's time on the status of the investigation on the sad demise of additional district and sessions Judge Uttam Anand," a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana had said.
The apex court had directed the CBI on 9 August to submit a status report of the case in Jharkhand High Court every week, LiveLaw had reported.