The Opposition BJP on Thursday demanded a CBI probe into the alleged murder of Dhanbad judicial officer Uttam Anand, who was hit by a speeding auto rickshaw when he was on his morning walk near Randhir Verma chowk on Wednesday.

The incident caused a massive uproar among the legal fraternity prompting the Jharkhand high court to take cognizance over the prevailing law and order situation in the state.

The divisional bench of the high court of chief justice Ravi Ranjan and Sujit Narayan Prasad while hearing a case in this regard on Thursday morning through an online mode rapped state police stating that the two back to back incident of attack on members of legal fraternity appears that the ‘fourth pillar of democracy’ is under attack. Notably, a Ranchi lawyer Manoj Jha was on July 26 murdered by unidentified criminals in Tamar.

Attacking the Hemant Soren dispensation of failing to maintain law and order in the state, BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash said that the murder of the judge is testimony to the fact that no one is safe in this state anymore. He said, “We demand a CBI probe into this case. There is no law and order situation anymore in Jharkhand. Few months back, a female cop was killed in Sahebganj district, then an advocate got murdered and now a judicial officer. When such people are being killed, imagine the plight of common people.``

He claimed that in the 19 months since the JMM-Congress-RJD government came to power, the state has recorded 3000 murders. “The figures are unprecedented. This is an indication that jungle raj is returning back to this state,” he said.

Meanwhile, state police has constituted a Special Investigating Team (SIT) under the aegis of ADG (operations) Sanjay Anand Latekar.

In Dhanbad, addressing media on Thursday evening, Dhanbad SSP Sanjiv Kumar said that they have recovered an auto which hit the deceased from Mangrudih in Giridih district last night and arrested the driver Lakhan Verma and Rahul Verma who was in the auto when the incident occurred.