The Supreme Court on 19 April, dismissed pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged mysterious death of special CBI judge BH Loya, ruling that the judge died of natural causes and that the petitions were a serious attempts to malign the judiciary.
A batch of pleas – including those by Congress leader Tehseen Poonawalla and Maharashtra-based journalist BS Lone – were filed in the Supreme Court seeking an independent probe into Special CBI Judge BH Loya's death in 2014.
Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, had allegedly died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on 1 December 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.
The issue of Loya's death came under the spotlight in November 2017, after certain reports raised suspicion about the circumstances surrounding Loya’s death and its link to the Sohrabuddin case.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said there was no reason to doubt the statements of four judges on the circumstances leading to the death of Loya. The apex court said that the petitions were attempts to attack the integrity of judiciary. It said the “frivolous” petitions were filed to settle political rivalry.
It also took serious note of Bhushan's plea that two of its judges, Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud should recuse themselves from hearing the matter as they come from Maharashtra and must be knowing all judges of the Bombay High Court concerned with case.
The apex court said during arguments, counsel for petitioners forgot to maintain institutional civility towards judges and made wild allegations.
The top court said it thought of initiating contempt proceedings against petitioners but decided not to go ahead with it.
Addressing a press conference, BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that alleged that Rahul Gandhi was the "invisible hand" behind the petitions and urged him to apologise for targeting Shah, the judiciary and democracy.
The Congress on the other hand, raised several questions over the Supreme Court verdict. “It is a sad letter day in India's history. The suspicious circumstances in which Loya died, was a matter of deep concern for those who have faith in the judiciary,” Congress Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said while addressing a press conference. Surjewala questioned as to why despite the SC direction that one single judge will preside over the trial for Sohrabuddin fake encounter case, Judge Utpal, the designated judge, was replaced by Judge Loya.
He also pointed out that the ECG and histopathology report of Judge Loya showed no evidence of a heart attack, on the contrary there was possible evidence of trauma to the brain with a blunt object. Moreover, Judge Loya's family had come on record to say that there were blood stains on his clothes.
Surjewala further said that Loya's postmortem was done without consulting the family and there is no entry record of Loya having stayed at Ravi Bhavan - a government-run VIP guest house, where he suffered the cardiac arrest on 30 November 2014.
(With inputs from PTI)
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