SC rejects petitions seeking independent probe in Judge Loya’s murder case

Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the petition demanding independent probe in the Judge Loya murder case and said that statements made by four Mumbai judges who were with Judge Loya cannot be ignored. The four judges had given a statement earlier asserting that “the death of Judge Loya was natural.”

The apex court’s decision labelled these petitions as “scandalous” and “an attack on the image of the Judiciary.” SC declared that the death of judge Loya was natural and there is no scope of any doubt and the bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also mentioned that these petitions are in criminal contempt. Asserting that the petition filed have political influence, the top court said that “Political and Business battles shall be fought outside the courtroom.”

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Reacting to the Supreme Court’s verdict, Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam expressed his disappointment and said that the supreme court should have formed a committee to investigate this matter.

“Taking into account, the doubts of people over this issue, the SC should have ordered an independent committee to investigate the murder of Judge Loya,” he asserted.

The BJP, earlier in the day, said that Congress President Rahul Gandhi is behind all the petitions filed in the Supreme Court regarding this issue. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that Rahul Gandhi should apologise for the same.

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Earlier, Maharashtra’s Journalist B.N. Lone and Tehseen Poonawalla filed a petition in Supreme Court to initiate an independent probe in this matter. Justice Loya was hearing the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case in the CBI special court. Several other appeals were made to the Supreme Court for the same.

Earlier on December 1, 2014, Judge Loya died while he was attending the wedding of his friend’s daughter in Nagpur. Several reports have questioned the sudden and “mysterious” death of judge Loya.