Team Herald
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear an intervention application filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL) with medical experts’ opinion that CBI judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya did not die due to heart attack but even possible poisoning.
CPIL treasurer Prashant Bhushan, a senior advocate, mentioned the application when the 3-judge Bench led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra resumed hearing on petitions seeking the Court-monitored independent probe into the mysterious death of the judge in Nagpur in December 2014.
During the hearing, senior advocates Dushyant Dave and Harish Salve and additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta once again clashed after the former raised questions on the conduct of some sitting judges of the Bombay HC to give statements that it was a natural death. Some judges who asked inconvenient questions were transferred, he said, wondering if it is not a travesty that the judges after judges who stood in their way have been punished.
The arguments remained inconclusive and posted for hearing on Thursday.
The intervention of CPIL is based on the expert professional opinions of two former professors of the All India Institute of Medical Science — Dr R K Sharma, former head of the forensic department and president of the Indian Association of Medico-legal Experts and Dr Upendra Kaul, professor of cardiology. It also seeks a Court-monitored probe by a high-powered team.
Dr Sharma has said that the post-mortem report and related histopathology report showed “signs of trauma to brain and even possible poisoning.” Dr Kaul went further to state that the ECG taken before the death has no evidence of recent myocardial infraction, almost conclusively destroying the official version of Judge Loya dying of a heart attack.
Bhushan also relies on the expert opinion he sought from other reputed cardiologists, who also confirmed the conclusion that the ECG does not show any signs of a recent heart attack as if Judge Loya had died due to a heart attack, some part of the heart muscles would have died, which is not the case here.
He also highlighted in the application how the Maharashtra Govt has failed to handover the ECG and the histopathology report to the Court while submitting the set of documents, without any affidavit. “The govt appears to have withheld these documents since they were aware that they would demolish the claims of the govt that Judge Loya died of a heart attack,” the application said.
It said if the Supreme Court has any further query on the conclusions of the experts consulted by the applicant, it may ask any team of eminent cardiologists and experts of forensic medicine to give their professional opinion on these reports.
Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, backed by Harish Salve, intervened on Dave’s charges: “Your Lordships, judges are being abused. It can’t be allowed.” An angry Dave retorted: “He (Mehta) has been a lawyer of Amit Shah for 15 years and now he is instructing Salve and Rohatgi appearing in this case.”
When Salve intervened, Dave shot back: “He should not be allowed to stand up in this court.”
Justice D Y Chandrachud, who comes from the Bombay High Court, chided Dave that there was nothing unusual in change of roster in Bombay and Gujarat High Courts after six to eight weeks and he should know it as he come from Gujarat.
Dave went on to accuse former Bombay HCchief justice Mohit Shah o offering bribe to Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case.
