Justice to judge Loya a long way off

The family of Justice Brijgopal Loya seems under extreme pressure to withdraw their allegations of foul play in his mysterious death on December 1, 2014, in Nagpur where he was attending the wedding of a colleague’s daughter.

Justice Loya’s son has now submitted a letter to the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court saying they suspect no foul play in his death. Yet the same teenaged boy has written a letter in his own hand, uploaded in a video by Caravan, wherein he has demanded an independent investigation into his father’s death. So, his letter to the Chief Justice now raises more questions rather than settling the row as a report in Times of India claimed this week.

While Judge Loya’s wife and son did not speak to Niranjan Takle, the Caravan reporter, his sister Anuradha Biyani, a doctor, and father did - on camera. They have so far not withdrawn the allegations, though they have gone underground or refused to speak to other reporters.

In the seven-minute video, Biyani clearly names the then Bombay High Court chief justice Mohit Shah as pressurising her brother to wrap up the case against BJP president Amit Shah early with a positive verdict.

In the video, Biyani says, “Chief Justice Mohit Shah would come (to Loya’s house in the evenings) in civil dress and say, ‘we have to finish this case with a positive verdict at the earliest’. But my brother replied, ‘I am studying the case and I will deliver the verdict when I am ready. And I will deliver a truthful verdict’.”

She also alleges that her brother told the family 15-20 days before his death, when he had come home (to his village Gategaon in Latur district) that he would hear the case truthfully. Judge Loya’s father Harikishan Loya endorses what Biyani says - that his son was offered a bribe of ₹100 crore and a flat in Mumbai to wrap up the case “positively”.

The father says, “My son said, ‘I will either resign my job or ask for a transfer. I will return to the village and do farming’.”

On the video, his other sister Sarita Mandhane also recounts the hour when the family received a call at 5 am from Judge Bharde (who is now said to be the judge who had driven Judge Loya to hospital) informing her of her brother’s death. “He informed us of Brij’s death and asked us if we had anyone there (in Nagpur) but we told him we were leaving immediately.... As we were getting into our car, Ishwar Baheti arrived and told us, ‘Why do you want to go to Nagpur when his body is being brought here?’. Then he took us to his house and made us sit there. That’s it.”

Biyani, however, makes some chilling revelations. As she breaks down on the video, she claims judge Loya’s body arrived after a post-mortem with his spectacles pressed under his neck. She says she immediately became suspicious after seeing the spectacles in that position for (as a doctor) she knew that during a post-mortem all belongings of the person are removed, listed and set aside and later handed over to the family.

“Moreover, the belt on his trousers was inserted the wrong side out and the buckle of the belt was also reversed. I thought there had been a scuffle and the belt got pulled off and someone re-inserted it the wrong way in a hurry. I have no other explanation.”

Now here is the chilling part. Biyani says her brother’s shirt had bloodstains at the back. “There were bloodstains at the back of the shirt,” she states in no uncertain terms, pointing to the back of her neck. When asked by the reporter if Judge Loya’s body was otherwise normal, she says, “There was some darkening. His face was swollen and his jaw was twisted. They told us that had happened while giving him oxygen, but I know for a fact that never happens.”

She also mentions that she asked for his phone which was returned to them on the third or fourth day. “It would have helped us to know who called him last and what his messages were. He had received a message some days back which everyone in the family knew, saying, ‘Stay safe from these people. There is a threat to your life.’ We all knew about it. That message too was deleted.”

There is no doubt the family lives in fear ever since Judge Loya’s death and the fear has intensified since the Caravan story broke. According to informed sources, the family’s well-wishers had sought protection for them from rival political parties but none have been willing to come forth too openly for various reasons.

Meanwhile, the Dande Hospital in Nagpur has been placed under security cover although it is unclear as yet why it should be under any threat - no one has challenged the hospital authorities and there are no signs of any protests. In fact, the reverse is true - there is a chilling silence over the issue with no local Marathi newspaper reporting or following up on it, barring Indian Express and Times of India who seemed rather keen to facilitate the closure of the issue at the earliest. Their defence, however, seems to have only added to the offence.

As one concerned person said, “We need a probe. We are not talking about conspiracies. We just want the facts.”

• Why was Justice Utpat transferred just a day before his next hearing despite the Supreme Court forbidding multiple judges on the case?
• Why and how did Justice Loya die just a day after he left the safety of his home and a day before he was to return?
• Why and how did the next judge wrap up the case just the way the then Chief Justice wanted?

But there seem to be more powerful sources who want those facts suppressed and kept under wraps.