Congress-NCP want Uddhav Thackeray to reopen probe on Judge Loya’s death

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, December 3

The Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress which are part of the government in Maharashtra want Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to order a fresh probe into the death of special CBI Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya in 2014.

The sudden death of Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin encounter case involving Union Home Minister Amit Shah, allegedly due to a cardiac arrest while he was attending a wedding in Nagpur had raised questions of foul play.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar was the first to indicate that a probe into the death of Judge Loya was very much on the cards.

“If there is a demand (for a probe) then one should think about it: on what basis is the demand being made, what is the truth? All this should come out. If there is something then fresh investigation must be carried out....,” Pawar told a Marathi news channel on Monday night.

Congress party leader Digvijaya Singh too joined in on Tuesday demanding that an inquiry be conducted into the death of Loya.

Referring to allegations by the late judge’s sister that a bribe of Rs 100 crore was offered to him in connection with the Sohrabuddin encounter case, Singh said these needed to be investigated.

“This is a very serious charge by the sister of Justice Loya. Now that we have a non-BJP Govt in Maharashtra why can’t the Govt set up an SIT who can investigate under the directions of an Independent Judicial Commission...,” Singh said on Twitter.

Incidentally, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray too had called for an independent inquiry into the death of Judge Loya nearly two years ago.

Thackeray, whose relationship with the Narendra Modi government was strained, had even wondered why the Centre was worried about instituting an inquiry into the incident.

Judge Loya’s relatives had alleged in a magazine interview that he was under pressure from the powers that be to deliver a favourable judgment in the Sohrabuddin encounter case.