NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear pleas filed by three petitioners seeking a SIT probe into the alleged mysterious death of CBI judge Justice BH Loya on Monday.
Here are 10 major points from the big story:
1: A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra, will hear the petitions.
2: The change of Bench comes a week after another Bench of Justices Arun Mishra and MM Shantanagouder, hearing a plea seeking inquiry into the Justice Loya’s death, recused itself and asked for putting up the matter before an ‘appropriate Bench’. The shift comes amid allegations by the four senior-most apex court judges that the CJI was arbitrarily assigning politically sensitive cases to a bench of his choice.
3: The top court had asked the Maharashtra government earlier in the month to submit the post-mortem report of the CBI judge, who had died in alleged suspicious circumstances in 2014, citing that the “matter was very serious.”
4: According to reports, Maharashtra-based journalist Lone and activist Tehseen Poonavala had filed independent pleas seeking a fair probe into the death of Justice Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, involving various police officers and BJP president Amit Shah.
5: On January 14, Justice Loya’s son Anuj Loya addressed media and said that the family doesn’t believe that there is any suspicion regarding his father’s death.
6: Judge Loya’s son Anuj said in a press conference that they are greatly distressed by the developments of last few days.
7: Anuj flanked with his lawyer categorically denied that there was any malpractice in Justice Loya’s death.
8: The latest move unfolds as one of the apex court judges Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar is on leave.
9: The apex court had earlier fixed the date of hearing on January 15.
10: Earlier, a bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, “sought an urgent hearing on the plea” for a probe into Judge Loya’s death on December 1, 2014.