Justice Arun Mishra hearing justice Loya case is close to BJP: Dave

NEW DELHI: Senior advocate Dushyant Dave alleged that Justice Arun Mishra who is assigned to hear the case of mysterious death of special CBI judge B.H. Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case — has close relations with BJP and top politicians.

News channel CNN News18 quoted Dave as having said, “Everyone knows Justice Arun Mishra has close relations with BJP and top politicians”. He also said, “Justice Arun Mishra shouldn’t hear the Loya case,” report Times Of India.

Congress leader Tehseen Poonawalla, who is a petitioner in Justice BH Loya’s death case, told Times Now that Dave had tried to “bully” him into withdrawing the case from the SC bench alleging that Justice Mishra was a “henchmen” of CJI Dipak Misra.

“Dushyant Dave told me that Arun Mishra is Dipka Misra’s henchman and he is not a judge who can be trusted,” Poonawalla was quoted to saying Times Now.

Poonawala, who filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking an independent probe into the mysterious death of Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) judge, said, “There was Justice Loya, something went wrong and that may not be clear in public domain, needs to be clear, faith in judiciary is complete.”

In a press conference held on January 12, Justices Madan B. Lokur, Kurien Joseph, Ranjan Gogoi and Jasti Chelameswar questioned the conduct of the Chief Justice of India (CJI), alleging that selective Benches were being appointed to preside over certain cases in the apex court.

Justice had died of cardiac arrest in Nagpur on December 1, 2014, when he had gone to attend the wedding of a colleague’s daughter.

He was hearing the sensitive case of Sohrabbudin Sheikh ‘fake’ encounter, in which BJP chief Amit Shah was also named but later discharged.

Sheikh and his wife Kausar Bi were allegedly abducted by the Gujarat police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad from Hyderabad on their way to Sangli in Maharashtra in November 2005. Sheikh was allegedly killed in a fake encounter near Gandhinagar.

His wife disappeared. She too was believed to have been done to death.