Judge Loya death case: Opposition leaders to meet President Ram Nath Kovind at 5 pm to seek his intervention

Opposition leaders are set to meet President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday at 5 pm to discuss CBI Special Judge BH Loya’s death case, according to media reports.

Opposition leaders to meet President Ram Nath Kovind today at 5 pm over #JudgeLoya death case.

— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2018

The meeting comes two days after it was reported that several Opposition members and Members of Parliament from both Houses had signed a three-page letter to the president  regarding suspicions surrounding Judge Loya’s death. The letter spoke of the need for an independent probe explaining the case in detail and mentions the new “revelations” related to the case. [caption id=“attachment_4314641” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of CBI judge BH Loya. Image courtesy: Facebook[/caption] Judge BH Loya, who was hearing the sensitive Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, had died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on 1 December, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter. Some members of Loya’s family had alleged foul play in his death. On 31 January, Congress leader Kapil Sibal held a press conference in New Delhi demanding Loya’s death must be probed independently by a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team. Addressing the media, Congress leader Kapil Sibal had said the party was putting out some hitherto unknown “facts” in the public domain, including that Judge Loya, who was holding the trial into the alleged staged shootout death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and two others, had told a lawyer-activist in a video conversation about “a draft order” which he was being “pressurised to sign”. BJP president Amit Shah was an accused in the case but was later acquitted. The petitioners in the case  have also urged the Supreme Court to order an independent probe in the case citing contradictions in the report submitted by the Maharashtra government and discrepancies in the statements of judicial officers who were present on the spot. During a hearing on the case, the Supreme Court on Monday warned that the courtroom should not be reduced to the level of a "fish market" after heated exchanges broke out. As the hearing in the cases heated up again, the apex court took umbrage at the verbal duel between two senior lawyers Dushayan Dave and Pallav Shishodia, calling it “unacceptable”. The bench fixed the matter for further hearing on 9 February.