The Congress on Thursday reacted to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) allegations against the party following the Supreme Court verdict in the death case of CBI judge BH Loya.

Countering BJP’s accusations, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the “BJP’s attempts to make false political capital out of SC judgment must be condemned”.

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Addressing reporters, Surjewala said that the Congress was not a petitioner before the apex court.

“For a vile BJP to misinterpret SC’s judgment to attack the Congress party reflects their jitteriness and frustration. We reject and condemn the malicious attempts of BJP to misinterpret SC judgment for finger-pointing,” he said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an independent probe in the alleged mysterious death of Judge Loya.

The BJP on Thursday alleged that the “invisible hand” behind the petition on Judge Loya case was of the Congress and its president Rahul Gandhi, and they should apologise to the country for defaming the judiciary.

The Congress said that it is a “sad letter day in India’s history”, hours after the apex court ruled out an independent probe into the mysterious death of the judge. The Congress was among the Opposition parties which had been demanding a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe.

“The verdict has left many questions unanswered for all those seeking fair investigation and justice in the death of Judge Loya,” Surjewala said adding that the ECG and Histopathology report of the judge showed no evidence of heart attack.

The Congress also raised some questions based on the background of the circumstances surrounding the death of the CBI judge asked why the “post-mortem was conducted without information and consent of any immediate family members”.

Surjewala said that there has been no investigation till date in death of Judge Loya.

“In law, according to us, statements made even by a judge before a police officer have no evidentiary value. Can such statements then be the sole criteria for not conducting any investigation?” asked Congress.

The party also pointed out that the matter was also raised by four senior-most judges of the apex court in public domain in a press conference.

“Congress party is committed to people’s demand for a fair probe in the matter,” read a release by the party.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said that there is no reason to doubt the statement of four judges who were with Judge Loya on the last day of his life because that would tantamount to doubting the integrity of the judiciary. The four judges – J Kulkarni, J Barde, J Modak and JRR Rathi – had termed his death as “natural”.

The apex court had on 16 March reserved its verdict on a batch of five petitions seeking an independent probe.

A three judge bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud pronounced its verdict in the morning following an extensive hearing which began on 2 February.

Official records state that Judge Loya died of a heart attack on 1 December 2014 when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter.

He was at the time hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, in which BJP president Amit Shah was one of the accused. Shah was discharged in the case which was taken over by another judge following Loya’s death.

Tehseen Poonawalla, one of the petitioners, told reporters that the verdict was “very disappointing”.

Addressing the media soon after the apex court pronounced its verdict over death of Judge Loya, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the petitions were filed with a political agenda.

“For some time, a few people were trying to politicise the judiciary. The court has slammed the petitioners who were demanding a SIT probe into the death of Judge Loya,” he said.

“Who held a press conference on 12 January 2018? It was Rahul Gandhi. It will be true to say the invisible hand, the invisible body that the Supreme Court is talking about… is none other than Rahul Gandhi and the Congress,” he said.