Justice A.P. Shah Demands High-Level Probe Into Justice Loya's Death

Justice AP Shah has demanded that there should be a probe into the death of the CBI judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya who was hearing the high-profile case on the alleged staged encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in which then Gujarat home minister and now BJP president Amit Shah was the prime accused.

In an interview to NDTV, former chief justice of Delhi high court Justice AP Shah, known for his bold judgments, said: "His (Loya's) family feels very strongly that there was some foul play in his death. Now there was a long list of circumstances starting from the fact that there was blood on his clothes, and somebody signed the postmortem report as it is. They feel that there is something wrong with the conclusion that he died of cardiac arrest."

News magazine Caravan carried an interview of the Family members of the deceased judge – his two sisters and father -- in which they claimed that attempts were made to bribe and intimidate Loya during the course of the trial. A sister of Loya had said she was not convinced that his death was a natural one. Justice BH Loya died five months after taking over Amit Shah's case. Outlook cannot independently verify the allegations.

"I feel that it is very necessary that the head of judiciary - either CJI (chief Justice of India) or Chief Justice of Bombay High Court should look into it," said Justice AP Shah told NDTV.

The report by Niranjan Takle points out several details that raise questions about how the judge died, the cause of which was earlier reported to be a heart attack.

The CPI(M) has also demanded a high-level judicial probe to look into the circumstances leading to the death of CBI court judge H P Loya in 2014.

"The whole matter has raised disturbing questions of murder, bribery, subversion of law and manipulation of institutions of parliamentary democracy at the highest level, which must be seriously investigated," the CPI(M) told news agency PTI.

Justice Shah told The Wire that the allegations, if not investigated, will cause serious stigma on the judiciary.

“I feel it is very necessary that the chief justice of the high court or the Chief Justice of India (CJI) himself should look into this material and decide whether to order an enquiry, because if these allegations are not investigated, it causes serious stigma on the judiciary. As it is, in recent times there are several self-inflicted wounds on the judiciary and I feel that such matters should be investigated.”