CBI doubles reward to Rs 10 lakh in Dhanbad judge death case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday doubled its reward to Rs 10 lakh for ''information of importance'' on the death of Dhanbad judge Uttam Anand who died after being hit by an auto-rickshaw on July 28.

The probe agency put up posters announcing the increased bounty at several places of the coal town such as City Centre, Bank More and Randhir Verma Chowk where the incident occurred.

''Cash reward of Rs 10 lakh will be given to the person who will give worthwhile information related to the crime,'' the posters read.

The information can be shared with the CBI's Special Crime-1 cell in New Delhi through phone numbers 011-24368640, 011-24368641 and 7827728856, the agency said. The identity of the person who will provide the information will not be revealed, it said. The CBI had on August 15 announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh for anyone sharing information of importance on the death of the 49-year-old additional district judge. CCTV footage showed that the judge, Uttam Anand, was jogging on one side of a fairly wide road at Randhir Verma Chowk near the district court early on July 28 when a heavy auto-rickshaw veered towards him, hit him from behind, and fled the scene.

Some locals found him lying in a pool of blood and took him to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

Dhanbad police seized the vehicle from Giridih district and arrested the auto-rickshaw driver Lakhan Verma and his assistant Rahul Verma. The CBI has been investigating the case since August 4 and used various scientific tests on the accused in its bid to solve the mystery.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police was probing the case earlier.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)