NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented move in the case pertaining to the allegedly suspicious death of special CBI judge B H Loya, senior advocate
Dushyant Dave on Monday sought the
Supreme Court's nod to cross-examine 11 people, including
Loya's family members and two judicial officers who were with the judge when he died in December 2014.
Dave told a bench of Chief Justice
Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud that the crossexamination was needed to find the truth behind Loya's "death under suspicious circumstances".
The other people he intends to cross-examine include the director general of the Maharashtra intelligence department and a reporter of a magazine that first published a report alleging foul play last year. The bench said it would examine his application.
Loya was the second judge to preside over the trial in the "fake" encounter case of inter-state gangster
Sohrabuddin Sheikh, in which
BJP chief
Amit Shah was an accused. Shah was later discharged from the case.
The high-voltage hearing on Monday saw Dave objecting to another petitioner's submission purportedly leaning towards the Maharashtra government's stand that Loya's death was natural.
The proceedings turned ugly in no time. As soon as advocate Pallav Sisodia, appearing for a journalist, concluded his submission, Dave accused him of approaching the apex court with "the sole purpose of scuttling proceedings underway in the Bombay high court".
"This was just to pre-empt the proceedings in Bombay HC. He had earlier appeared for Amit Shah. The nature of your submissions have exposed you. This petition was filed here so that the matter could be buried. It was mentioned and listed before court 10 for that," Dave said.
Sisodia replied, "I don't care what what you say... You go to hell." With both lawyers making personal allegations against each other, Justice Chandrachud intervened and asked them to maintain decorum.
The plea was of no avail as the lawyers kept shouting at each other. Dave went to the extent of saying he would not listen to the bench if it did not take cognisance of Sisodia's "unethical conduct" and did not heed its "conscience".
"If you do not listen to us then we will not hear your arguments. Let us not reduce the dialogue to such a low level which would shame even a fish market. Please don't remind me of my conscience. You make your point when your turn comes," Justice Chandrachud told Dave.
Dave went on to say that the
Bar Council of India was harassing him for telling the truth but did not take action against lawyers for their misconduct. Justice Chandrachud said the bench had full faith in him and he should assist the court in deciding the issue. The judge also reprimanded Sisodia and said, "Some of the words you used were highly objectionable.
It is unpardonable." The arguments remained inconclusive and will resume on February 9.
