Shock and grief engulfed judiciary in Jharkhand over the tragic death of Justice Uttam Anand, Additional District and Session Judge (VIII) of Dhanbad today.

Though the reported cause of his death was attributed to  a road accident, murder can not be ruled out. The incident of his death occurred  on Wednesday morning.

The incident  took place near Golf Ground less than 500 meter from his house at Judge Colony of Hirapur. Like any day, Justice Uttam Anand was out for his daily morning walk. This was the time when  yet to be identified driver of a four wheeler hit him.

A passerby Pawan Pandey who witnessed the judge lying in a pool of blood rushed him to Sahid Nirmal Mahto Memorial Medical College and Hospital where he died during the course of treatment.

The body remained unidentified in the hospital for some time and a few people suspected the body to be of a policeman. However, office bearers of the Police Men’s Association  who  reached at the SNMMCH failed to identify him.a

Family members of the deceased Judge meanwhile raised an alarm at around 7 am when he didn’t return home and informed the police. 

Police later launched a search for the judge and as per the information provided by police family members and staff deputed at the house of Anand reached SNMMCH where his body guard identified his dead body.

A High level team of police led by City SP, R Ramkumar who also reached at the site of incident and collected some evidence from the site and photographs. Also a video was made at  the incident site.

Dhanbad is known as a coal town, home to many coal mafias.As per a report,a case of murder  of Ranjay Singh, close aide of Jharia MLA Sanjeev Singh, was pending in his court and Justice Anand had recently had rejected the bail petitions of two members of Aman Singh’s gang, a notorious criminal of Uttar Pradesh.

Senior civil lawyer of Dhanbad Swapan Mukherjee in his message on social media said,“Shocked and deeply pained to learn about the tragic and premature death of Sri Uttam Anand, District Judge of Dhanbad. I, on behalf of Bar Association Dhanbad condole his death.”