Stormy scenes as SC hears Loya case

NEWDELHI: The first hearing of the Loya case by the Chief Justice’s bench in the Supreme Court witnessed high drama, with senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for an association of lawyers from Mumbai that has filed one of the petitions seeking a probe into the death of special CBI court judgeBH Loya, alleging that documents submitted by the Maharashtra government on the case were incomplete, and also taking issue with senior advocate H ari sh Salve appearing for the state government in the case.

Thethree-judgebench headed by CJI Dipak Misra on Monday also transferred to itself the two public interest litigations pending in the Bombay high court seeking further probe into the death of Judge Loya, with the assurance that it shall examine all documents relating to his death“with utmost seriousness ”.

The Supreme Court began hearing in the contentious case, seen as the trigger for four senior judges — Justices Jasti Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur andKurianJoseph—andtopublicly criticise the CJI on January 12 for allocating important cases to junior judges, after it was transferred from the bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra.

Dave said the documents shared by the Maharashtra government, as instructed by Justice Mishra on January 16, were incomplete, and that documents obtained under the Right to Information Act show that there were suspicious circumstances attached to Judge Loya’s death.

“We want an independent enquiry because it’s about the death of a judge,” he said.

Dave also made an argument against Salve appearing for the Maharashtra government. Dave asserted that Salve had represented Am it Shah in the Sohrabuddin case and he could not now appear for the Maharashtra government. Judge Loya, who was presiding over the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, died in Nagpur on December 1, 2014.

Shah, now B JP president, was named in the case, although, in late December 2014, a special CB I court judge discharged him.

On Monday, the Maharashtra government produced statements of four district judges, two of whom have since been appointed as judges in the Bombay HC, stating that Loya died of a heart attack.

THE BENCH HEADED BY CJI ALSO TRANSFERRED TO ITSELF THE TWO PILs PENDING IN THE BOMBAY HC SEEKING FURTHER PROBE INTO THE DEATH