The case refers to the death of CBI Special Judge B H Loya in 2014 (File)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on two petitions seeking an independent probe into the death of CBI Special Judge Brijmohan Loya in 2014. The court has not fixed any specific date for the next hearing in the case.
The petitions were filed in the top court last Thursday and allocated to Justices Arun Mishra and Mohan M Shantanagoudar the next day who sought the Maharashtra government’s response on the pleas by January 15. The hearing was deferred to Tuesday as Justice Shantanagoudar was not available.
In today’s hearing, in response to senior advocate Harish Salve, who appeared for Maharashtra, placing documents relating to Loya’s death in a sealed envelope before the court, the two-judge bench directed him to supply documents to the petitioners. Justice Mishra observed it was “a matter where they should see everything”.
The petitioners in the case are Maharashtra-based journalist B R Lone and Congress leader Tehseen Poonawalla. Lone sought a fair probe into the alleged mysterious death of Loya. Poonawalla, in his plea, called the death of the judge “questionable, mysterious and contradicting”.
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Judge Loya death case: Congress leader Tehseen Poonawalla, one of the petitioners in the case, seen outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday (Express Photo)
On Friday, following the assignment of the case, four top judges of the Supreme Court held an unprecedented press conference in which they said they had approached Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra regarding the same. Although they did not specify the case, Justice Gogoi replied in the affirmative when asked if it was about the case on the death of Judge Loya.
“Even this morning, on a particular issue, four of us went and met the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India with a specific request which we could not unfortunately convince him that we were right. Therefore, we were left with no choice than to communicate it to the nation that please take care of the institution and take care of the nation, because we have heard a lot of wise men talking in this country earlier,” Justice Chelameswar had said, on behalf of them.
Loya died in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, while hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh “fake encounter” case, in which BJP president Amit Shah was an accused. Shah was later acquitted by a CBI court in the case.