High Court pulls up CBI again on Dhanbad judge murder case probe
Ranchi (PTI): The High Court of Jharkhand on Friday reprimanded the CBI again pointing out that the premier investigative agency has been filing multiple reports but has been unable to give plausible explanation of the events leading to the Dhanbad judge murder case.
Hearing the petition today, a division bench of Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad observed that the agency has not been able to give a specific and plausible explanation leading to the unfortunate incident.
The agency has been filing report after report and yet the motive and intention behind the murder and other persons involved in the conspiracy have not been named, the judges rued.
In October the High Court had said the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the unnatural death case of a Dhanbad district judge in July is like a "novel" and the agency failed to substantiate the murder charge against the two accused persons.
The High Court on repeated occasions has pulled up CBI in the case. On October 22, it had said the agency seems to have worked like babus (clerks) while completing the probe and had filed a "stereotype" charge sheet.
The CBI had earlier assured the court several times that investigation is proceeding in full swing and had even said that the connection of the two accused with several persons is being explored to link it with Anand's murder.
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.
A special investigation team (SIT) of the state police was probing the case initially. The state government later handed it over to the CBI which started its investigation on August 4.
The Supreme Court also had directed the Jharkhand High Court to monitor the investigation of the case.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
