The Caravan continues to keep a sharp focus on the suspicious circumstances leading up to the death of judge BH Loya. On Sunday, it published another report that dismisses the official claim of the judge dying of a heart attack.

Speaking with The Caravan, Dr RK Sharma, one of India’s leading forensic experts, shared his opinion on judge Loya’s medical reports. He says: “The findings in these reports have no suggestion of heart attack.” He also points out that, according to the report, the outermost layer of the brain, dura, was congested, indicating some kind of a physical assault on the brain.

Studying the postmortem report along with the related histopathology report, the result of chemical analysis and a report that accompanied the samples of viscera that were sent for chemical analysis, Dr Sharma also raises the possibility of poisoning. However, the chemical analysis on viscera samples did not identify any poison. Sharma further raises questions about the delay in chemical analysis. The samples were recorded 36 days after his death and took 14 days, a process that generally takes a day or two, The Caravan reports.

Judge Loya, a special court judge who was hearing the politically-sensitive Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, died in December 2014. Concerns over the events leading up to his death thickened last November after The Caravan reported the testimonies of his family members calling the death ‘suspicious’.

In January, the Chief Justice of India decided to hear two petitions for an independent probe into the death. The Supreme Court termed the matter as “serious” and transferred the petitions demanding an independent probe from the Bombay High Court to itself. While hearing the petitions as part of a three-judge Bench, Justice DY Chandrachud cautioned saying, “Let’s not cast aspersions. Let’s not prejudge”.

The allocation of the petition had been one of the causes behind the January 12 press meet of four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court. Following this, Justice Arun Mishra and Shantanagoudar recused themselves from hearing the petitions. The matter was then placed before a Bench of CJI Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud.

The Caravan’s latest report raises more questions on judge Loya’s death and has garnered much attention on social media. Big Media organisations, however, are yet to pick up the story.

As the hearing on the petitions continued today, the Maharashtra government claimed that the petitions were filed to scandalise the judiciary and not for protecting its interests.