The Jharkhand High Court on Friday criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation for its inquiry in the murder case of Dhanbad judge Uttam Anand, PTI reported. The court said that the agency has filed multiple reports, but has not given a plausible explanation about the events leading up to his alleged killing.

Judge Anand died on July 28 in Dhanbad after a three-wheeler ran over him. CCTV camera footage of the incident showed the vehicle suddenly swerving towards the 49-year-old judge, who was walking on an empty road, and hitting him.

The CBI took over the case from the Jharkhand Police on August 4.

The High Court on Friday said that the CBI has not yet identified the motive behind the alleged murder, or named the persons involved in the conspiracy.

At an earlier hearing of the case on October 22, the court had observed that the CBI had filed a “stereotype” chargesheet and that it seemed to be working like babus (clerks) in the case, according to PTI.

The investigation agency had earlier told the court that the inquiry was underway in “full swing”. The CBI had said that it was exploring links of the two accused persons with several others.

The accused men, an autorickshaw driver Lakhan Verma and his assistant Rahul Verma, were arrested on July 29, a day after the judge was allegedly killed.

The CBI has charged the two accused under sections 302 (murder), 201 (disappearance of evidence of offence or giving false information) and 34 (criminal acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

Before his death, Judge Anand had been hearing the murder case of Ranjay Singh, who was a close confidante of former Jharia MLA Sanjiv Singh. The judge had also denied bail to Ravi Thakur, a protégé of Uttar Pradesh shooters Abhinav Singh and Aman Singh, just three days before his death.