Loya's death due to poisoning, not heart attack, apex court told

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an intervention application filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) with medical experts' opinion that CBI judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya did not die due to heart attack but even possible poisoning.

CPIL treasurer Prashant Bhushan, a senior advocate, mentioned the application when the 3-judge Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra resumed hearing on petitions seeking the courtmonitored independent probe into the mysterious death of the judge in Nagpur in December 2014.

During the hearing, senior advocates Dushyant Dave and Harish Salve and additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta once again clashed after the former raised questions on the conduct of some sitting judges of the Bombay High Court to give statements that it was a natural death.

Some judges who asked inconvenient questions were transferred, he said, wondering if it is not a travesty that the judges after judges who stood in their way have been punished. The arguments remained inconclusive and posted for hearing on Thursday.

The intervention of CPIL is based on the expert professional opinions of two former professors of the All India Institute of Medical Science -- Dr R K Sharma, former head of the forensic department and president of the Indian Association of Medico-legal Experts and Dr Upendra Kaul, professor of cardiology. It also seeks a Court-monitored probe by a high-powered team.

Dr Sharma has said that the post-mortem report and related histopathology report showed "signs of trauma to brain and even possible poisoning."

Dr Kaul went further to state that the ECG taken before the death has no evidence of recent myocardial infraction, almost conclusively destroying the official version of Judge Loya dying of a heart attack.