SC asks Maha govt to bring all records of Loya's death

The Supreme Court on Friday termed as serious the issue of "mysterious" death of special CBI judge B H Loya and asked the Maharashtra government to produce all records before it.

Judge Loya, 48, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, had died on December 1, 2014, in Nagpur where he had gone to attend a wedding. A series of news reports recently tried to raise questions over his death. BJP president Amit Shah and senior police officers, who were accused in the case, were subsequently discharged.

Acting on two petitions seeking an independent probe into the events and circumstances surrounding Loya's death, a bench of Justices Arum Mishra and Mohan M Shantanagoudar asked the Maharashtra government's counsel to bring all records for consideration on Monday.

The court rejected a plea by senior advocates Dushyant Dave and Indira Jaising not to consider these two petitions. The counsel contended that they were representing Bombay Lawyers Association which had already filed a similar petition before the Bombay High Court and that is coming up for hearing on January 23.

"We will not go by what the high court is doing. We will hear the matter. This is a serious matter," the bench said.

As advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma initiated arguments briefly on behalf of the petitioner, Congress sympathiser and relative of Robert Vadra, Tehseen Poonawalla, the court said, "This matter requires bi-party hearing rather than exparte." It put the matter for hearing on January 15. Advocate Anita Shenoy appeared for petitioner Maharashtra-based journalist Banduraj Sambhaji Lone.