Former Navy Chief Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas wrote to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Friday, seeking a judicial investigation into the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Central Bureau of Investigation judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya in 2014. The “inaction” of the judiciary since the revelations were made has been “surprising”, Ramdas wrote.
Loya had died when he was hearing a matter related to the allegedly staged encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh – a case in which Amit Shah, now the Bharatiya Janata Party president, was an accused. Loya’s family has raised a number of questions about his death, as reported by the Caravan on November 20.
The silence of the two judges who are believed to have persuaded Loya to travel to Nagpur, where he died, is “disturbing”, Ramdas wrote in his letter to Misra. The letter was also addressed to Bombay High Court Chief Justice Manjula Chellur.
“A judicial probe at this point, at least to respond to the queries raised by the family, and to uphold the image of the judiciary in the eyes of the people of India, is absolutely necessary,” Ramdas said in his letter.
He said it was “critically important” to clear the suspicions, and a high-level inquiry should be set up “in the larger interests of the nation and its people, and above all [to uphold] the Constitution of India”.
The demand for investigation into Loya’s death is now gathering support within the judicial circles. Retired Bombay High Court judge BH Marlapalle, former Delhi High Court Chief Justice AP Shah and the Latur Bar Association have sought a probe. So have former BJP leader Arun Shourie, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
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