Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Thursday said the State government is open to reinvestigating the death of special CBI judge B.H. Loya if fresh evidence warrants it.
“Our government is open to reinvestigating the Loya death case. Some people are meeting me today to demand that the case be reopened. I will hear them out and if necessary, the case will be reinvestigated,” said Mr. Deshmukh. Asked whom he was meeting, the Minister said he could not divulge the names.
Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case of Gujarat involving current Union Home Minister Amit Shah, died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend a wedding. His death turned controversial after news reports suggested foul play.
BJP MLA Ashish Shelar criticised Mr. Deshmukh for his statement. “If the Supreme Court has closed the case, then what is the reason for the Home Minister to make such statements? Is he acting as per law or are political intentions behind this?” he asked.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud in April 2018 dismissed the petitions demanding independent probe in the Loya death after articles appeared in a magazine raising suspicions about his death in Nagpur in 2014.
The order said that Loya died of natural causes and there is ‘absolutely no merit’ in the PILs alleging foul play in his death.
