I/II. [In the months leading up to his sudden death three years ago, the judge who was hearing the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case in which BJP chief Amit Shah was the prime accused was allegedly offered a bribe of Rs 100 crore for a “favourable” judgment. The sister of Brijgopal Harkishan Loya – who presided over the CBI special court in the matter till his death on December 1, 2014 – told The Caravan that some weeks before his death, the judge had confided in her about the bribe offer which she alleged had been made by the then chief justice of the Bombay high court, Mohit Shah. This, she said, had also been confirmed to her by Loya’s father Harkishan. Shah, she says, also allegedly offered Loya a house in Mumbai. Caravan magazine says it reached out to Mohit Shah for his reaction to this accusation but did not receive a response.]
https://thewire.in/198843/sohrabuddin-encounter-judge-bribe-brijgopal-loya-amit-shah/ Family of Deceased Judge Claims He Was Offered Rs 100 Crore for ‘Favourable Order’ in Amit Shah Case BY THE WIRE STAFF ON 22/11/2017 • LEAVE A COMMENT The late judge’s sister says in an interview to Caravan magazine that the then chief justice of the Bombay high court also offered her brother a house in Mumbai. BJP chief Amit Shah and the late judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya. Credit: PTI/Caravan BJP chief Amit Shah and the late judge Brijgopal Harkishan Loya. Credit: PTI/Caravan New Delhi: In the months leading up to his sudden death three years ago, the judge who was hearing the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case in which BJP chief Amit Shah was the prime accused was allegedly offered a bribe of Rs 100 crore for a “favourable” judgment. The sister of Brijgopal Harkishan Loya – who presided over the CBI special court in the matter till his death on December 1, 2014 – told The Caravan that some weeks before his death, the judge had confided in her about the bribe offer which she alleged had been made by the then chief justice of the Bombay high court, Mohit Shah. This, she said, had also been confirmed to her by Loya’s father Harkishan. Shah, she says, also allegedly offered Loya a house in Mumbai. Caravan magazine says it reached out to Mohit Shah for his reaction to this accusation but did not receive a response. On December 1, 2014, the family members of Loya received calls informing them that the 48-year-old judge had died after suffering a massive cardiac arrest. Less than a month after that, a replacement judge ruled that Amit Shah had no case to answer and discharged him before the trial had even started. The discharge of the BJP president wasn’t appealed by the CBI, which was the prosecuting agency in the case. The CBI’s failure to appeal was considered highly unusual given the fact that it had investigated the case – involving the ‘encounter’ killing of Sohrabuddin and his wife Kauser Bi – following directions from the Supreme Court. M.B. Gosavi – who took charge after Loya – began hearing Shah’s application for relief on December 15, 2014, and concluded hearings two days later on December 17, reserving his order. Loya was appointed judge in the case weeks after the earlier judge, J.T. Utpat, was transferred from the special CBI court. Piqued by Amit Shah’s repeated failure to appear in court, Utpat had ordered the BJP leader to present himself on June 26. But one day before that, on June 25, 2014, he was transferred to the Pune sessions court. According to Mihir Desai, lawyer of Sohrabuddin’s brother, Rubabuddin, Loya was keen on examining the entire chargesheet – over 10,000 pages long. Desai further told The Caravan that on October 31, Loya questioned the absence of Shah in court during a hearing and instructed his lawyers to ensure that the BJP chief was present when he was in the state and scheduled the next hearing for December 15. Loya’s sister, Anuradha Biyani, a medical doctor based in Dhule, Maharashtra, said that Mohit Shah tried to pressure him to “issue the judgment as soon as possible and to ensure that it is a positive judgment”. Speaking about the alleged offer of a bribe of Rs 100 crore, she told Caravan, “Mohit Shah, the chief justice, made the offer himself.” This accusation was repeated, says Caravan, by Loya’s father Harkishan: “Do you want a house in Mumbai, how much land do you want, how much money do you want, he used to tell us this. This was an offer.” While upholding Shah’s plea to be discharged, Gosavi on December 30 said that the CBI had implicated him for political reasons. Since then, 11 more persons – mostly senior police officials from Gujarat – have been discharged from the case. The discharge of Shah came about a month after Loya’s death, which the hospitals had concluded was due to natural causes. His family now disputes that claim, pointing to various discrepancies in the manner the post-mortem report was prepared, the condition of his clothes and body, the time of his death and the wiping clean of his mobile phone data. II. https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mumbai/civic/sohrabuddins-brother-wanted-probe-wrote-to-then-cj/articleshow/61745170.cms SOHRABUDDIN’S BROTHER WANTED PROBE, WROTE TO THEN CJ By Sharmeen Hakim, Mumbai Mirror | Updated: Nov 22, 2017, 07.31 AM IST Sohrabuddin’s brother wanted probe, wrote to then CJ L-R: Rubabuddin Sheikh; Amit Shah; Former CJ of HC Mohit Shah Special CBI Judge BH Loya's 2014 death Rubabuddin received no reply from then Bombay HC CJ Mohit Shah; Judge Loya had been presiding over Sohrabuddin Sheikh 'fake encounter' case Startling revelations have come to light about the events following the sudden death in December 2014 of special CBI Judge BH Loya, who was presiding over the 2006 Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Tulsiram Prajapati 'fake encounters' case. BJP President Amit Shah, the prime accused in the case, was later cleared of all charges. Mirror has accessed a letter that Sohrabuddin's brother Rubabuddin Sheikh had written to the then Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Mohit Shah, on Loya's sudden demise. Rubabuddin, however, received no response from Shah. In the letter, Rubabuddin had written to the then CJ asking that an enquiry be set up to ascertain if Judge Loya had indeed died a natural death on his trip to Nagpur, and if he had been under pressure from anyone. Judge Loya had visited Nagpur for a colleague's daughter's wedding on November 30, 2014. The next day, December 1, his family was informed that he had died of a heart attack. At that point, Judge Loya was hearing Amit Shah's discharge application. Shah was subsequently discharged by the end of the same month by Judge MB Gosavi, who observed that Shah had been implicated in the case for "political reason". At least 15 people, including then Gujarat top cop DG Vanzara, have been discharged in the case. Read Also: 'Why was trial court order in Sohrabuddin case not challenged?' While the CBI did not appeal against any of the discharge orders, Rubabuddin had approached the Bombay HC against Amit Shah's discharge. He, however, subsequently withdrew the application. In the letter Rubabuddin wrote, "Sir, as you are aware, this is an extremely sensitive matter and many of the accused are police officers and high-level politicians... I would sincerely request you to institute an inquiry into the matter of the death of Judge BH Loya, to find out whether it was a natural death. Also, whether he was under any kind of pressure from anyone. Hence it is extremely important to conduct an impartial and fair inquiry. I hope and pray that an independent and time- bound inquiry under the monitoring of this court is conducted...." According to a recently published report in a well-known narrative journalism magazine, Judge Loya's family has alleged that he was under great pressure at the time of his death. In fact, allegations have also been made against the then Bombay HC CJ. Mirror had earlier reported that another special judge, UT Utpat, presiding over the trial before Judge Loya, was transferred despite the SC's directions that a single judge should hear the case till the end. The reason given for Judge Utpat's transfer was that he had asked for it himself. Incidentally, this was around the time the judge had asked for Shah's presence in court. Following an SC order, the trial was moved to a Mumbai court. Repeated calls and messages to former Justice Mohit Shah went unanswered. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
