SC says Loya death ‘serious’, seeks records

New Delhi: Observing that the death of CBI special judge B.H. Loya was a “serious issue”, the Supreme Court on Monday called for the entire records of the case and said it will examine the materials dispassionately and objectively before deciding whether to order a further probe into his mysterious death.

A three-member bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Kanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud orally observed: “If a judge in the district judiciary has died and there are several media reports urging us to look at it and intervene, it becomes serious enough for us to examine the issue dispassionately. But we can’t press our hands only on the basis of media reports. We will have to look at the matter with a sense of objectivity and we assure you about that.” The bench also cautioned lawyers not to refer to the name of BJP president Amit Shah and to cast aspersions on him as he was not before the court.

The bench, asking all the parties in the matter to submit the documents available with them in a sealed cover, also transferred to itself for hearing two writ petitions that are pending before the Bombay high court. The bench also restrained all high courts, including the Bombay high court, from entertaining any similar plea until it decides on the matter one way or the other.

The order came after senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Maharashtra government, submitted a confidential inquiry report. Mr Salve informed the bench that after the publication of various media reports, a discreet inquiry was instituted to examine the circumstances in which Judge Loya had died in December 2014. He said going by the report, four judicial officers who accompanied Loya to the hospital after he complained of chest pain have denied any foul play in their statements. Mr Salve said this report was submitted to the Bombay high court chief justice on November 23, 2017.

Both Mr Salve and Mr Rohatgi pointed out that the report was unequivocal and pleaded that the inquiry report, including the statements of judicial officers given as witness, should not be made public. Senior counsel Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Bombay High Court Advocates Association, said he was intervening in the matter. He alleged that the reports were contradictory and an attempt was being made to conceal the real facts and highlighted that Judge Loya was trying the politically sensitive Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter killing case when he was found dead under “mysterious circumstances”.

Mr Dave also claimed that Mr Salve had once appeared for BJP chief Amit Shah in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case and thus he should not appear for the state government now. He said Mr Shah had been discharged from the case by the judge who had succeeded Loya.

When Mr Dave alleged that everything has been done to protect one man, (BJP president Amit Shah), Justice Chandrachud said: “As of today, it is a natural death. Then do not cast aspersions against someone who is not before the court. We would want all the relevant records be placed before the court. Let us not allow our conscience to say later that we have not looked into some records. We are looking into the death of a judicial officer and let us not allow it to be deflected.”

Earlier, Mr Salve read out a portion of the report, which narrates the investigation conducted by the director-general of police. It contains statements from judicial officers who were accompanying Judge Loya on the entire sequence of events leading to his death. He also read out statements of the four judicial officers as to how Judge Loya, who complained of chest pain early in the morning, was carried to the hospital in a car, placed on a stretcher and taken into the ICU. “All these are sitting judicial officers who have given these statements under their signature. What more is required in terms of proof?” remarked Mr Salve.

CJI Dipak Misra got angry when senior advocate Indira Jaising opposed any gag order proposed by the court, asking media not to publish the records in this case. The CJI told the counsel: “This is not fair to me. This you cannot do, I said the other day don’t gag the press. I am really hurt.”

The CJI asked her to retract and apologise forthwith, upon which the counsel apologised and expressed regret. The Loya case had been first assigned to a bench that four senior judges had believed was not suitable. A bench led by Justice Arun Mishra, which took up the case last week, referred it to an “appropriate bench”, after which the Chief Justice took it over. The bench has posted the matter for further hearing on February 2.