‘I was in emotional turmoil’: Judge Loya’s son on why he changed his mind about his father’s death

Anuj Loya, son of Special Central Bureau of Investigation Judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya who ostensibly had a heart attack during a trip to attend a wedding in 2014, said that he and his family had no suspicions about the circumstance of his father’s death.

This runs contrarary to sentiments Anuj Loya had expressed in February 2015, when he wrote a letter raising doubts about whether his father had died a natural death.

At the time of his death on on December 1, 2014, Justice Loya was presiding over a special CBI court in Mumbai, hearing the case of the alleged extrajudicial murder by the Gujarat Police of alleged extortionist Sohrabuddin Sheikh. Among the accused in the case was Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah, who was the home minister of Gujarat when the alleged fake encounter took place.

Family expresses doubts

The judge’s death has been heatedly discussed since November 2017, when Anuj Loya’s grandfather Harkishan Loya and paternal aunt Anuradha Biyani had in video statements published by Caravan magazine expressed doubts about the circumstances of Judge Loya’s sudden death in Nagpur in December 2014. Biyani also alleged that Judge Loya had told her that he had been offered a bribe of Rs 100 crore by Chief Justice of Bombay High Court Mohit Shah.

On January 4, the Bombay Lawyers Association filed a petition with the Bombay High Court asking for an investigation into the death. A week later, a Mumbai-based journalist BR Lone filed a separate but similar public interest litigation in the Supreme Court, as did Congress leader Tehseen Poonawala.

On Friday, Loya’s death was in the headlines again as the Supreme Court’s four most senior judges after the Chief Justice of India held an unprecedented press conference at which they said democracy was in danger because of the actions of CJI Dipak Misra, who was bypassing established conventions in the way cases were assigned to benches.

The four judges confirmed that they had brought up the hearing of the Loya case with Misra shortly before they addressed the media. The Loya case had been assigned that morning to the bench of Justice Arun Kumar Misra.

‘Very troubled’

Amidst this renewed interest in the case, 21-year-old Anuj Loya called a surprise press conference in Mumbai on Sunday, at which he said that his family was “getting very troubled” because of the media reports.

“Humko koyi allegations nahi hai kisi pe bhi kuch bhi nahi hai,” he said. We don’t have any allegations against anyone or about anything. “We are really pained. We are already trying to get out of these things. […] I request you people please don’t try to harass us or trouble us. Convey [this message to] everyone through your media.”

He explained why he had changed his mind about the circumstances of his father’s death. “I was 17 at that time so I don’t know,” he said. “I was in emotional turmoil and right now I am in emotional turmoil.” He added that any doubts other members of his family might have had about Judge Loya’s death were also due to emotional turmoil at that time and that these doubts have since been cleared.

Loya’s family friend and retired district judge KB Katkar, who also addressed the media, expanded on this.

“The only earning member of the family died all of sudden due to a heart attack, therefore some suspicion was created by some people,” Katkar said. “However, now everything is clear. Two judges – senior most judges, district judges, cadre judges were with Mr Loya when he sustained pain in the chest. He was taken to the hospital in the night time and doctors have made every effort. Good treatment was provided to him, however, he could not survive. The family members realised all these things, however, some other people have created some doubt in the story and are harassing the family of Mr Loya.”

Katkar said that those harassing the family included “some NGOs, some lawyers, politicians”. He asked the media to inform these groups not to disturb Loya’s family any more.

In December, Scroll.in tracked the hours before and after Judge Loya’s death. Questions however still remain.