Anuj Loya, the son of Central Bureau of Investigation Court judge Brijgopal Harkishan, told Bombay High Court Chief Justice Manjula Chellar on Tuesday that the family has no complaints or suspicions about the circumstances of his father’s death, according to The Times of India.
Loya died in 2014 when he was hearing a matter related to the allegedly staged encounter killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh – a case in which Amit Shah, now the Bharatiya Janata Party national president, was an accused. Some members of Loya’s family have raised a number of questions about his death, as reported by The Caravan on November 20.
The judge died when he was on a trip to Nagpur to attend a colleague’s daughter’s wedding. “We have full faith in the members of the judiciary who were with him on the night of November 30,” Anuj reportedly said in the letter handed over to Chellar. Anuj Loya also claimed that the family has no suspicions about the integrity of the investigating agencies, and they are certain that his father died of a heart attack.
Anuj’s statement comes despite Caravan releasing videos of the judge’s sister and father saying that he had died in suspicious circumstances, and calling for an inquiry into the death. The Caravan report also carried a copy of a letter that Loya’s family said Anuj wrote to them on the day the then Bombay High Court Chief Justice Mohit Shah visited months after the judge’s death. “I asked him [Mohit Shah] to set up an enquiry commission for dad’s death. I fear that to stop us from doing anything against them, they can harm anyone of our family members. There is threat to our lives,” Anuj had written then. “If anything happens to me or my family, chief justice Mohit Shah and others involved in the conspiracy will be responsible,” he had added.
Anuj Loya’s statement comes just days after two Bombay High Court judges – Bhushan Gavai and Sunil Shukre – who were at the hospital when Loya was declared dead in 2014, claimed there was nothing questionable or suspicious about the circumstances around his death.
Nearly ten days after the Caravan published its report, the demand for an investigation into Loya’s death has gathered support from many circles. Around 150 advocates of the 1,700-member Latur Bar Association, retired Bombay High Court judge BH Marlapalle and former Delhi High Court Chief Justice AP Shah have sought an inquiry.
Former Navy Chief Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas, former BJP leader Arun Shourie, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), too, want the matter investigated.
However, fresh reports have also brought up more questions.
