Notice to Maha Govt on Judge Loya’s death

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Maharashtra government seeking its reply on a petition seeking an independent probe into alleged mysterious death of Mumbai's Special CBI Judge B H Loya in Nagpur in December 2014.

Judge Loya was hearing at the time of his death the encounter case of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, in which BJP President Amit Shah was also an accused as then minister of state for home in Gujarat. After Loya’s death, Shah was discharged by another judge who came to preside over the case on ground of no evidence.

The Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and M M Shantanagoudar termed the case as a "serious matter" that requires "bi-party hearing rather than ex parte" and asked the state government's counsel Nishant R Katneshwarkar to file a reply, as also furnish the post mortem report and other relevant documents, besides taking instructions from the government. Petitioner Bandhuraj Sambhaji Lone, a Maharashtra journalist, has also made the Centre a respondent.

A 3-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, had agreed on Thursday to an urgent hearing on the petition and listed it before this Bench. The case also figured in an unprecedented press conference by four senior most judges, who objected to ‘selective’ assignment of cases by the CJI, asserting his authority as "master of roster." Justice Gogoi, one of the four judges present at the press conference on Friday, had answered in affirmative when asked if they had objection to the assignment of Judge Loya's case to a particular Bench.

Since the Bombay Lawyers Association's case for a probe was also listed on Friday before

the Bombay High Court, senior advocate Dushyant Dave, pleaded on its behalf, not to hear the case. "The Bombay High Court is seized of the matter and in my opinion the Supreme Court should not hear this matter. If the court goes ahead with the hearing, it may have implications before the High Court," Dave said.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for journalist Lone, told the Court that she has also got instructions from the Bombay lawyers association that this matter should not be heard by the top court. Justice Mishra, however, said the Bench will look into the petition and also consider the ob-

jections raised.

Advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma, appearing for another petitioner, Congress leader Tehseen Poonawala, said this is a case where a mysterious death of a judge has taken place on December 1, 2014, and it needs to be investigated.

Loya had died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter.