Judge Loya Case Hearing-Four Judicial Officers Must Be Asked To File Affidavits: Submits Dave [Read Written Submissions]

As the hearing in the petitions seeking an independent probe into the death of special CBI judge Loya resumed on Monday before the Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AM Khanwilkar, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, appearing on behalf of the State of Maharashtra, recapitulated his arguments advanced at the previous hearing regarding the maintainability of PILs and laches of over 3 years in filing of the present petitions.He also reiterated the sequence of events leading to the death by heart attack of judge Loya, adding, “Attempts at resuscitation were made at Meditrina Hospital upon which judge Loya was pronounced as having been brought dead. The post mortem was directed as he had not died under the care of the hospital. Four judicial officers have confirmed this by a letter on their own letterheads, and in one case, in his own hand. These are letters written of their own accord and not in an interrogation. The high court judges who reached the hospital around 7 AM on the date of the death have also affirmed the same. The post mortem was conducted at 10 AM at a government hospital, after which the body was sent to judge Loya’s hometown. It is all contemporaneous”.“The article in The Caravan is false and baseless. It was written 3 years after the death in November last year. And this is because a month or two before, the Supreme Court had dismissed the challenge to the discharge of a particular individual (BJP President Amit Shah). It is a motivated article,” Rohatgi submitted.Thereupon, he read out the statement of the owner of the Dande Hospital in Nagpur- “... judge Loya was checked... ECG was taken... he was asked to be brought to a cardiac surgeon... they took the ECG and left...”Referring to the death report of Police Station Sitabardi, he offered justification on the claims of the petitioners regarding the erroneous noting of the date: “The ‘ghatna tareekh’ in the original was recorded as November 30, 2014, but by 4 AM, it was December 1, 2014. The nakal bayan bears the correct date of December 1, 2014. It was signed in English by Dr. Prashant Rathi at 8:30 AM on that date”. “There is another death report at PS Sadar as the Ravi Bhawan is located within its jurisdiction. The name of the ‘faryadi’ is shown as Dr. Prashant Bajrang Rathi. The ‘ghatna sthal’ is noted as Ravi Bhawan, and the date as 4 AM on December 1, 2014 for the ‘ghatna’ and 6:15 AM on the same date for the death. The nakal bayan at Sadar was recorded at 4 PM on December 1, 2014. There was only a transmission of files from Sitabardi to Sadar and a duplication,” he continued.“The first Accidental Death Report was at Sitabardi. On the basis of the information communicated by the Constable of that police station, the record at Sadar was made,” concurred Justice Chandrachud.Moving on to the inquest report under section 174 of the CrPC, he read the report of the concerned police official of PS Sitabardi: “Dr. Prashant Rathi recognised the face of the deceased ... the deceased was wearing blue jeans with a black belt ... there were no marks of injuries or assault...his private parts were intact ... according to me, the cause of death is heart attack ...”Thereupon, he discussed the preliminary opinion as to the cause of death of the Department of Forensic Science, Government College, Nagpur.“The doctor confirms that there were no injuries,” remarked Rohatgi, emphasising on the portions regarding “evidence of sclerosis in left coronary artery...calcification of arteries...plaque in inner wall...”Answering the petitioners’ repeated claims regarding the misnaming of judge Brijgopal Loya as ‘Brij Mohan’ Loya, he indicated the reports of Meditrina Hospital addressed to PS Sitabardi, “the name here is written as Brij Mohan. Judge Shrikant Kulkarni had admitted judge Loya at the hospital. I have the original form filled by judge Kulkarni. He wrote the name as ‘Brijmohan’ which was copied by the doctor.”The bench requested to peruse the aforesaid document. Senior counsel Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Bombay Lawyers’ Association, requested to see it too, which Rohatgi refused. When Dave regarded it as a “self concocted evidence”, Rohatgi advanced that it is of no relevance. Senior counsel Indira Jaising also interjected, “He cannot unilaterally decide relevance. We have already asked for the police diary”. Chief Justice Misra intervened to say, “Once a document is produced before the court, it needs to be shown to the opposite side, unless it is privileged communication”. Finally, Rohatgi agreed to share the document.Regarding the disputed question of the conduct of ECG, Justice Chandrachud remarked, “Judge R Rathi stated that the ECG machine was broken”. “Judge Barde and Dr Dande have confirmed that an ECG was carried out at the Dande Hospital. Judge R Rathi has also not said that there was no ECG machine; he has only said that the ECG machine was tried to be fixed. Perhaps only some nodules were...

Judge Loya Case Hearing-Four Judicial Officers Must Be Asked To File Affidavits: Submits Dave [Read Written Submissions]

Mehal Jain

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