The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra Government to hand over all documents relating to the death of CBI special judge BH Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter killing case, to the two petitioners who have sought an independent probe into his death.
After the four judges protested against “arbitrary” listing of the highly sensitive cases by the Chief Justice of India, this was the first hearing of the case before a Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and MM Shantanagouder.
As directed by the court on Friday to produce documents of the case, senior advocate Harish Salve appearing for Maharashtra produced the documents in a sealed cover before the SC.
These documents included the post-mortem report, statement of doctors and other witnesses.
Directing the State to supply the same to the two petitioners, the SC Bench said, “This is a matter where they should know everything.” The Bench gave them a week’s time to prepare their response.
Loya had died of a cardiac arrest in Nagpur while on his way to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter on December 1, 2014. He was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case involving BJP president Amit Shah. Although a PIL demanding a probe in Loya’s death is pending before the Bombay High Court, the apex court still decided to hear the case terming the allegations “serious”.