HC allows petitioner to amend ‘prayer clause’

NAGPUR: A division bench of the Nagpur high court heard a case that seeks all details of CBI special court judge BH Loya’s death in late 2014 and alleges that he was poisoned using a radioactive isotope.

The bench allowed the petitioner, lawyer and activist Satish Uke to amend the so-called prayer clause, where a plaintiff lists expectations of the court, and deferred hearing by two weeks. Two earlier benches refused the hear the case.

Judge Loya, who was presiding over the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case, died of a heart attack in 2014 while staying at the government guest house Ravi Bhavan in Nagpur.

Amit Shah, who was Gujarat’s minister of state for home at the time of the alleged fake encounter, was once named in the case but subsequently discharged.

A CBI special court recently

JUDGE BH LOYA, WHO WAS PRESIDING OVER THE SOHRABUDDIN SHAIKH CASE, DIED OF A HEART ATTACK IN 2014

acquitted all the accused in the case and the judge also said the investigation by CBI was politically motivated. The Bharatiya Janata Party says the Congress tried to use the CBI to frame Shah.

Senior counsel Sunil Manohar appeared for the government along with government pleader Sumant Deopujari and demanded the petition’s dismissal, pointing out that the issue was already decided by the Supreme Court.

The SC ruled on April 19, 2018 that it did not have reason to believe there was anything mysterious about Judge Loya’s death. Uke clarified that he was not demanding a reinvestigation into the case, but wants all records pertaining to judge’s death.