The Supreme Court will hear on Friday two separate pleas seeking an independent probe into the death of CBI Special Court and Additional Sessions Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya, who presided over the Sohrabuddin Sheikh staged shooting case.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on Thursday posted for January 12, two pleas — filed by Maharashtra-based journalist B.R. Lone and Congress leader Tehseen Poonawala, seeking an urgent hearing for a probe into Loya’s death.
Judge Loya died of heart attack on December 1, 2014 while on a visit to Nagpur, where he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter.
At that time, he was handling the sensitive Sohrabuddin Sheikh case in which the Bharatiya Janata President Amit Shah was one of the accused (but later discharged), besides other top Gujarat police officers among the accused.
Lone contended that a fair probe was needed into the “mysterious death” of Loya.
In his plea, Poonawala contended that the circumstances revolving around the death of the judge were questionable, mysterious and contradicting.
The issue came under the spotlight in November 2017, after media reports, quoting his sister, fuelled suspicion about the circumstances surrounding his death.
The case with major political overtones pertains to the killing of suspected gangster Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi and their associate Tulsidas Prajapati in Gujarat in November 2005.
The case was later transferred to the CBI and the trial was shifted to Mumbai.
On January 8, the Bombay Lawyers’ Association had filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court seeking a probe into Loya’s death.