SC Dismisses Pleas Seeking Probe Into Judge Loya’s Death, Says No Grounds to Suspect Foul Play

The death of judge BH Loya in 2014 while deciding on murder charges against BJP president Amit Shah will not be investigated, the Supreme Court said today, calling petitions for an independent probe “scandalous” and a “frontal attack on the judiciary”. A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra also found the petitions in criminal contempt, based on the statement of four Mumbai judges who were with judge Loya at the time and had asserted that he died of natural causes. 48-year-old judge Loya was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, in which Amit Shah was an accused, when he died of a heart attack in Maharashtra’s Nagpur, where he was attending a wedding. The judge who replaced judge Loya ruled there was not enough evidence against Amit Shah to merit a trial and discharged the BJP chief. The top court, without naming anyone, said it “takes strong exception to Insinuation made that one individual controls judiciary