Jharkhand HC has already taken up matter of Dhanbad judicial officer's 'killing', says SC
CCTV footage of Dhanbad judge's road 'accident' spurs outrage
New Delhi, Jul 29: The Supreme Court Thursday said the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court has already taken up the matter related to the alleged killing of a judicial officer of Dhanbad and concerned officers in the case have been asked to be present before it.
A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Surya Kant said this after senior advocate Vikas Singh, who is also the president of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), mentioned the matter and said this is a brazen attack on the independence of judiciary.
Singh said investigation in the case must be entrusted to the CBI as killing of a judicial officer, apparently for not granting bail to a gangster is an assault on the judicial system.
We are aware of the incident and we appreciate the efforts of SCBA. I have spoken to the Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court. He has taken up the case and has asked the officers to be present there. The matter is going on there. Leave it there, the CJI told Singh.
Interference by the apex court in the matter at this stage may not be necessary as the high court has already taken it up on the judicial side, the bench said.
Singh, while saying that video of the incident was also shot, told the bench that if somebody is killed for not granting bail to a gangster, then there will be no judiciary in the country .
On Wednesday morning, a judicial officer was killed in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district after being hit by a vehicle, police had said.
District and Sessions Judge-8 of Dhanbad court, Uttam Anand, was out on morning walk when the incident happened at Randhir Verma Chowk near the district court in the Sadar police station area, a senior police officer had said.
Around 5 am, a vehicle hit him from the rear and fled, Senior Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Kumar had said.
The judge was found to be lying in a pool of blood by an auto-rickshaw driver, who took him to the Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College and Hospital where he succumbed to the injuries, the officer had said.
Prior to mentioning the matter before the CJI-led bench, Singh mentioned it before a bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud.
Singh termed the incident shocking and said the apex court should take cognisance of the matter.
Justice Chandrachud told Singh to mention the matter before the CJI.
When Singh said mentioning may not be allowed before the CJI, Justice Chandrachud assured him that he would use his "good office" to bring the matter to the notice of the CJI.
After mentioning the matter before the CJI, Singh appeared before Justice Chandrachud-led bench to argue another case which was listed for hearing.
Justice M R Shah, who was part of the bench headed by Justice Chandrachud, asked Singh why was the video of the incident was shot as it could be used as evidence.
Singh said persons involved in this wanted to terrorize people by shooting the video.
This is tyranny. This was brazen and they wanted to terrorize people. The video is not shot from any CCTV cameras but from a video camera as people can be heard talking and it was even zoomed in several times, he said.
When Justice Shah said what could be the reason behind the incident, Singh said the judicial officer had passed unpleasant bail order against some gangster.
"Anyway, I have mentioned this before the CJI, who said that he has talked to the Chief Justice of Jharkhand High Court. The chief justice of high court is taking up the matter on the judicial side," Singh said.
धनबाद के ज़िला सत्र जज उत्तम आनंद का बुधवार सुबह मोर्निंग वॉक में एक ऑटो के ठक्कर में मौत का मामला गहराता जा रहा हैं @ndtvindia @Anurag_Dwary pic.twitter.com/oV3m3Ca6x0
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KKR land Green for record-breaking Rs 25.20 crore; Shaw, Sarfaraz go unsold
Abu Dhabi (PTI): Kolkata Knight Riders splurged a record-breaking Rs 25.20 to land top Australian all-rounder Cameron Green even as Indian stars Prithvi Shaw and Sarfaraz Khan went unsold in the Indian Premier League players' auction here on Tuesday.
Green surpassed compatriot Mitchell Starc (Rs 24.75 crore) to become the most expensive overseas player at an IPL auction. This was after Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings were involved in an intense bidding war for him before the latter emerged winner.
KKR also went after Venkatesh Iyer before pulling out of the race against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who fetched the services of the India all-rounder for Rs 7 crore.
As far as Green is concerned, his salary for the season would still be Rs 18 crore (USD 1.9 million) as the rest of the amount will go towards the BCCI's player development programme as per the rules of the auction for foreign players.
Green, who previously turned up for Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru, has so far played 29 matches in the IPL to aggregate 707 runs and take 16 wickets.
Shaw, however, went unsold despite his fine run of form in the domestic circuit lately, and so was the case with Sarfaraz, who smashed a 22-ball 73 in a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy match for Mumbai on Tuesday.
Big-hitting South African batter David Miller was bought by Delhi Capitals for his base price of Rs 2 crore, but New Zealand swashbuckler Devon Conway, whose base price was also Rs 2 crore, went unsold in the auction.
Seasoned South African opener Quinton de Kock returned to his old base Mumbai Indians for a base price of Rs 1 crore.
A total of 359 players -- 246 Indians and 113 overseas players -- are part of the mini auction pool with the 10 franchises bidding to fill up a maximum of 77 slots, including 31 reserved for foreign players.
