Supreme Court's new bench to hear Loya death case on January 22

The Supreme Court will now consider on January 22 two PILs seeking independent probe into the death of Mumbai's special CBI judge B H Loya, who was then hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

A three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra ordered for posting the matter before "an appropriate bench as per the roster". The matter is likely to be put before a fresh bench.

The court passed its order on mentioning made by advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma on behalf of petitioner, Congress sympathiser Tehseen Poonawalla. The counsel sought clarity on the date of hearing as a bench presided over by Justice Arun Mishra had on January 16 directed for posting the matter before an "appropriate bench".

The assigning of Loya death case before a bench led by Justice Mishra and also comprising Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar had triggered four seniormost judges in the Supreme Court to raise a banner of revolt against CJI Misra on January 12.

It was cited by Justice Ranjan Gogoi as one of the reasons for the four judges to go public in an unprecedented press conference.

Poonawalla and Maharashtra-based journalist Bandhuraj Sambhaji Lone have filed two separate PILs seeking independent probe into the death of Loya on December 1, 2014.

Loya, 48, had died due to "cardiac arrest" when he went to attend the marriage ceremony of a colleague's daughter, but his family members raised suspicion over the death in a series of news reports by a magazine. The judge was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. BJP president Amit Shah and senior police officers, who were accused in the encounter case, were subsequently discharged.

Justice Mishra had earlier called the issue a serious one and rejected a plea not to hear the matter in view of pendency of a similar matter before the Bombay High Court.