RSS gen secy's interest in judge Loya case intriguing
Was RSS General Secretary Suresh (Bhaiyaji) Joshi behind a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) filed by a BJPRSS worker of Nagpur last November on the death of Mumbai's CBI judge Brijgopal Loya in Nagpur on December 1, 2014? And, why? Did he really want an inquiry into the death or wanted closure of the matter without an inquiry?
The questions were raised by the Congress on Thursday placing facts and leaving it for the people of India to decide what was the motive of the RSS. Maybe, it said the purpose was to influence the course of investigation into the judge's death.
Judge Loya was hearing the case of Sohrabuddin encounter in which BJP president Amit Shah was one of the accused as then junior home minister of Gujarat but discharged soon by another judge after his death.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, also a senior advocate, on Thursday dragged the name of Joshi, No 2 in the RSS, alleging that one BJP-RSS worker Suryakant alias Suraj Lolage had filed the PIL before the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court at his instance.
At a Press conference at the AICC headquarters here, he played in support an audiotape of two telephonic conversations Lolage had with one Pradeep Uke on February 3 and 10, stating that he was being advised to withdraw the petition, but Bhaiyyaji Joshi has asked him not to do so and that he was getting instructions through one Kotekar, an office-bearer of the BJP.
Dates are important
The Caravan magazine broke the news of Loya's death in suspicious circumstances on November 20. The Maharashtra government got a discreet inquiry done on November 23 through the State Intelligence Department (SID) to arrive at a conclusion that was accepted by the Apex Court as the natural death. It was after four days on November 27 that Lolage moved the PIL before the Nagpur Bench. All other petitions were filed only in 2018. The taped conversation coincides with the Supreme Court hearing the petitions for an independent probe into Loya's death.
The Supreme Court had transferred all petitions relating to Loya's death to itself and gave the verdict last week, dubbing it as "natural" requiring no probe.
Sibal sees a pre-maditated motive behind Lolage's PIL. He said: "Bhaiyaji Joshi and RSS were very keen that this matter be heard in the Supreme Court as quickly as possible." He left it for the people to decide what was the motive of RSS.
Sibal made an interesting disclosure that Lolage had slipped into his Press conference at the AICC headquarters on January 30, accompanying Satish Uke who gave details of the mystery behind the judge's death. Nobody in the Congress at that time knew that he is from BJP and RSS.
"We now discovered Lolage's antecedents. He is in BJP and also applied for a ticket from Nagpur for election to the municipal corporation in 2016," Sibal said, circulating photographs and his application for the BJP ticket.
Extracting a paragraph from the Apex Court's judgment, Sibal said: "We do agree with the Supreme Court that many of these Public Interest Litigations are being filed for purely political considerations and with the hope of an intended outcome."
He did not say any further but his disclosure shows how the highest authority in the RSS was activated since an independent probe could have adversely affected BJP President Amit Shah who was discharged from the encounter case after Judge Loya's death.