The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an independent probe in the alleged mysterious death of CBI Judge Brijmohan Harikishan Loya.
The court 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”.
Tehseen Poonawalla, one of the petitioners, told reporters that the verdict was “very disappointing”.
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.
The bench had during one of the hearings stated that it will not hesitate to order an investigation “if our conscience is aroused to order inquiry” in public interest.
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.
A batch of partitions were filed by activist Tehseen Poonawala, the Bombay Lawyers Association, Maharashtra-based journalist Bandhuraj Sambhaji Lone, NGO Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) and others seeking an independent probe into Judge Loya’s death.
The petition by the Bombay Lawyers Association was filed in the Bombay High Court and was later transferred to the apex court, which merged the same with the petitions already filed with it in the case.
During the hearing, the Bombay Lawyers Association told the Supreme Court that the late Judge Loya’s family might have been coerced into saying that they do not want fresh probe into his death, but suspicious circumstances surrounding it warrants an independent probe.
Pointing to “too many coincidences” around the death of Judge Loya, senior counsel Dushyant Dave, appearing for the association, had recounted the sequence of events and told the bench that “there is a suspicion around the death of Judge Loya”.
The Congress and other opposition parties have been demanding a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe in the death of Judge Loya.
On 9 February, a delegation of opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) from 15 parties approached the President Ram Nath Kovind seeking a SIT probe into CBI judge BH Loya’s death. A memorandum signed by 114 MPs was presented to the President.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi said, “Judge Loya’s death was suspicious and there were two more suspicious deaths related to the case”.
The Congress has also demanded that the SIT should not have officers from the CBI and the NIA and had said that the party will go to “each village of the country” if there is no proper probe into the matter.
Claiming that “democracy is in danger”, Congress leader Kapil Sibal had alleged that judges, lawyers and even media personnel were not safe these days. He had also questioned why the Bombay High Court did not lodge an FIR following Loya’s death.
The Maharashtra government had objected to the petitions seeking an independent probe into the death of Judge Loya saying the pleas were obliquely motivated, based on unverified media reports and were being orchestrated “because there is a particular functionary of a political party”.
Suspicions around Judge Loya’s death arose from an article published by The Caravan in November 2017 in which the judge’s sister expressed doubt over the manner in which her brother died.
But on 14 January Loya’s son said that his father had died of natural causes and they are not seeking any probe on it.
In their 12 January press conference against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, four senior-most apex court judges – Justices J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph – had questioned the manner in which sensitive cases were being allocated and Loya’s case was one of them.