NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday listed new theories raising suspicions about the circumstances surrounding the death of Judge B H Loya and demanded an independent probe into the matter. Noting that the case was linked to concerns flagged by four Supreme Court judges earlier this year, the party said democracy in India was in peril.
“We want an independent investigating agency probing the death of Judge Loya and the events that followed,” Congress spokesperson Kapil Sibal said at an AICC briefing. “This is what the four judges reiterated in their press conference, democracy is in peril,” he said.
The four judges were miffed over Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra having marked the case to a junior judge. It is now being heard by a bench headed by the CJI.
Judge Loya, who was presiding over the CBI court hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, died in Nagpur on November 30, 2014. The Congress alleged that he was under pressure to clear BJP leader Amit Shah, an accused in the case, and for this favour, he was offered Rs 100 crore and a flat in Mumbai.
The Congress charged that police security provided to Judge Loya was withdrawn in Mumbai from November 24, 2014 and he was not provided any security in Nagpur. There was no record of his travel by train from Mumbai and no entry in his name in the occupancy register of Ravi Bhawan, where he stayed in Nagpur, on November 30, 2014.
The post-mortem of Judge Loya was conducted on December 1 by doctor Tumram without informing or obtaining the consent of his immediate family members. “There are several discrepancies in the post-mortem report which are self-evident,” said the Congress.
The deaths of advocate Shrikant Khandalkar and former Judge Prakash Thombre, who helped Judge Loya deal with the pressure he was under, also occurred in suspicious circumstances, the Congress said, adding that lawyer Satish Uke, who also helped Judge Loya, was also threatened repeatedly and an attempt was made on his life.