NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today dismissed pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged mysterious death of special CBI judge B H Loya, ruling that the judge died of natural causes and that the petitions were a serious attempts to scandalize and obstruct the course of justice.
Loya, who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh case, 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.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said there was no reason to doubt statements of four judges on circumstances leading to the death of Loya and that documents placed on record and their scrutiny establishes that the death was due to natural cause.
The top court said that with these petitions it becomes clear that a real attempt and frontal attack was made on the independence of judiciary.
The apex court said frivolous and motivated litigations have been filed to settle political rivalry.
The petitioners have launched a veiled attempt to malign the judiciary and the credibility of judicial institutions has been questioned, the three-judge bench said and criticized attempts by senior advocates and activist lawyers Dushyant Dave and Indira Jaising and Prashant Bhushan to make insinuations against judges including that of the apex court.
It also took serious note of Bhushan’s plea that two of its judges, Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y 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.
“Courts are not the place to settle business or political rivalry which has to be fought in markets or elections,” the bench said.
The issue of Loya’s death had come under 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.
However, 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 Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and their associate Tulsiram Prajapati in Gujarat in November 2005. The case was later transferred to 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. PTI
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