The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged mysterious death of special CBI judge B.H. Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. The order was issued by a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud.
Loya had allegedly died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014 when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter.
Highlights of SC ruling
- Attempts are made to scandalise the judiciary by levelling serious allegations against judicial officers and judges of the Bombay High Court.
- There is no reason to doubt statements of four judges on circumstances leading to the death of Loya and the documents placed on record and their scrutiny establishes that Loya's death was due to natural cause.
- With these petitions it becomes clear that a real attempt and a frontal attack was made on the independence of the judiciary.
- Frivolous and motivated litigation has been filed to settle political rivalry.
- The judicial process will be reduced to a "charade" if the courts are burdened with such cases with extraneous reasons.
- Business rivalries have to be resolved in the market and political rivalries in the grand hall of democracy. It is the court's duty to protect the law.
- During arguments, counsel for petitioners forgot to maintain institutional civility towards judges and made wild allegations.
The issue of Loya's death had come under the spotlight in November last year after media reports quoting his sister had fuelled suspicion about circumstances surrounding it and its link to the Sohrabuddin case. But Loya's son had on January 14 said in Mumbai that his father had died of natural causes.
In the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, BJP President Amit Shah along with Rajasthan Home Minister Gulabchand Kataria, Rajasthan-based businessman Vimal Patni, former Gujarat police chief P.C. Pande, Additional Director General of Police Geeta Johri and Gujarat police officers Abhay Chudasama and N K Amin have already been discharged.
Several accused, including police personnel, are currently facing trial for their involvement in the alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, his wife Kausar Bi and their associate Tulsiram Prajapati in Gujarat in November 2005. The case was later transferred to the CBI and the trial shifted to Mumbai.
A batch of pleas, including those filed by Congress leader Tehseen Poonawala and Maharashtra-based B S Lone, was filed in the top court seeking an independent probe into Loya's death in 2014.
Four senior-most apex court judges—Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M.B. Lokur and Kurian Joseph —at their January 12 press conference had questioned the manner in which sensitive cases were being allocated and Loya's case was one of them.