BH Loya’s death was a planned murder, says his batchmate Uday Gaware

A day before the Supreme Court is set to hear the plea for a probe into the CBI judge’s death in 2014, his friend Gaware breaks his silence.

WrittenBy:Amit Bhardwaj
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Just a day before the Supreme Court is set to hear a plea seeking an investigation into the death of special CBI judge BH Loya, his batchmate Uday Gaware of the Lathur Bar Association on Monday told a public gathering in Delhi that “BH Loya’s death was a well-planned murder”.

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Speaking at the All India People’s Forum event, Gaware, also judge Loya’s friend, said “the day BH Loya’s body reached his ancestral village, several people, including a few judges present at the funeral, said ‘tumhare dost ke sath dhokha ho gaya hai’ (there is a conspiracy behind your friend’s death).”

The CBI judge was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case in 2014, in which BJP president Amit Shah is the main accused, when he died – reportedly of cardiac arrest – on December 1 that year.

Three years later now, judge Loya’s death case has again come to the fore.

In an investigative report in The Caravan magazine, published in November last year, judge Loya’s family raised questions about the circumstances of his death.

And on Friday, when four senior-most Supreme Court judges held an “unprecedented press conference”, the judge’s death again became the news point. Justice Ranjan Gogoi, one of the four judges part of the presser, agreed that judge Loya’s death was one of the sensitive cases related to their complaint against the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra.

On Sunday evening, however, Justice Loya’s son Anuj took everyone by surprise by holding a press conference, in which he said the family had no suspicions over the circumstances of the death. His lawyer also requested the media, NGOs and activists “not to harass the family members”. Notably, ever since The Caravan’s story was published, Anuj has been avoiding the media.

On Monday, Niranjan Takle, The Caravan journalist who broke the Loya story in November, Gaware and former Bombay High Court justice BG Kolse Patil demanded a “transparent investigation” into the judge’s death.

Significantly, senior Supreme Court advocate Indira Jaising pointed out that Anuj’s statement doesn’t change the situation, as “crime is committed against the society. I am not saying he was murdered…”

She added that “the Chief Justice should have ordered a suo-moto investigation immediately after judge Loya’s death”.

Pointing at Anuj’s body language in the presser, Gaware told Newslaundry: “If you notice Anuj’s body language in the press conference, it appears he is under some duress. It seems he was instructed by someone to hold the press conference.”

Justice Kolse Patil too dubbed Anuj’s appearance in front of the media as one under pressure. When asked who could pressure the late judge’s son, he said: “Do I need to say who would pressure Anuj? Who was the accused in the case (that judge Loya was hearing)?”

Takle, who conducted his own investigation for his story, said that when he first met judge Loya’s family, they were all scared. Addressing the public meeting, he revealed that the family was under the impression that whoever probes the Loya story would die.

Speaking about the timing of the story, which was published right before the December Assembly polls in Gujarat, he said: “I had filed the story in February 2017 at my previous organisation. The story should have been published that month, or in March… (but) finally, in October I was told the story will not be carried.”

Takle said he resigned from his organisation in November and started looking for one that would publish the story. And then The Caravan happened.

Importantly, Takle said he had interviewed Harkishan Loya, the CBI judge’s father, on November 25, 2016, and it was an audio conversation. However, when The Caravan was about to publish the story, they decided to carry video interviews.

Even a year later, “until November 17, the family had doubts over judge Loya’s death”, said Takle. He wondered who had cleared their suspicions, as Anuj mentioned on Sunday.

“If Anuj is speaking on behalf of the family, then who convinced the family? His press conference has only increased the number of questions (around judge Loya’s death),” Takle added.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra and Mohan Shantanagoudar is likely to hear the plea for an investigation on Tuesday.

Notably, Jaising, one of the counsels in the plea, is opposing the placing of the petition before Justice Mishra. She said that during the hearing of (former IPS officer)Sanjiv Bhat’s case, the state of Gujarat had not only taken RSS ideologue Gurumurthy Swaminathan’s opinion but also incorporated it. She pointed out that back then Justice Mishra had allowed this to happen, saying the state was free to consult any “appropriate person” in such matters.

“If Justice Arun Mishra thinks that Gurumurthy is an appropriate person on what is to be filed and what not be filed in court, how can we have confidence in him that he will hear (judge Loya’s) case in an impartial manner?” lawyer Jaising asked.

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