The Supreme Court today rejected multiple pleas for an independent probe into the death of special CBI judge B H Loya, holding he died of "natural causes" in a verdict that sparked a bitter slugfest between the BJP and the Congress.
The court also rebuked the petitioners saying from their PILs it becomes clear that "a real attempt and frontal attack" was made on the independence of judiciary and that the present case was a manifestation to carry forward a personal agenda.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also observed that the petitions were instituted at the behest of rivals to "settle political scores". The petitions had raised doubts over the circumstances of judge Loya's death.
The judge was trying the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case when he passed away on December 1, 2014 when he had gone to Nagpur to attend the wedding of a colleague's daughter. He had died of cardiac arrest, according to official records.
BJP President Amit Shah, who is a former minister of state for Home in Gujarat, was made an accused in the encounter case and was discharged later.
Loya's death came under spotlight in November 2017 after media reports quoted his sister as having suspicions about the circumstances surrounding his end and its link to the Sohrabuddin case.
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Delivering its 114-page judgement, the court held that all litigations concerning the circumstances of death of judge Loya is concluded with this verdict. In all, there were five petitions including those filed by Congress leader Tehseen Poonawala and Maharashtra-based journalist B S Lone seeking an independent probe into Loya's death.
"The documentary material on the record indicates that the death of Judge Loya was due to natural causes. There is no ground for the court to hold that there was a reasonable suspicion about the cause or circumstances of death which would merit a further inquiry," a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said.
The top court dubbed the PILs into the death of judge Loya as frivolous and motivated litigations to settle political scores and rivalry were behind the "facade of the PIL" to malign the dignity of judicial officers and Bombay High Court judges.
It said the judicial process will be reduced to a "charade" if the courts are burdened with such cases with extraneous reasons.
The top court, which was critical of the petitioners and their lawyers for casting insinuations against the judicial officers and judges, said an attempt was made to cause prejudice against them and was a "vituperative assault on the judiciary." The court also said it thought of initiating contempt proceedings against petitioners but decided not to go ahead with it.
The petitioners had launched a veiled attempt to malign the judiciary and the credibility of judicial institutions was questioned, the bench said and criticised the attempts by senior advocates and activist lawyers Dushyant Dave, Indira Jaising and Prashant Bhushan to make insinuations against judges, including that of the apex court.
"Business rivalries have to be resolved in the market and political rivalries in the grand hall of democracy. It is the court's duty to protect the law," Justice Chandrachud, pronouncing the verdict for the bench, said.
While relying on the statements and accounts of the four judges -- Shrikant Kulkarni and S M Modak, V C Barde and Roopesh Rathi -- relating to the death of the judge Loya, the bench said, "there is no reason for this court to doubt the veracity of their statements."