Give autopsy report: SC to Maharashtra government

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today termed as a “serious matter” the issue of alleged mysterious death of special CBI judge BH Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, and asked Maharashtra government to file his autopsy report.

The SC asked the state government to file its reply by January 15 and said “this matter requires biparte hearing rather than ex-parte”. “This is a serious issue. We would like counsel for state of Maharashtra to seek instructions and file the post mortem report and other relevant documents by January 15,” a bench of Justices Arun Mishra and MM Shantanagoudar said.

At the outset, senior advocate Dushyant Dave representing Bombay Lawyers' Association said the high court was already seized of the matter and the top court should refrain from hearing the issue.


The bench asked Dave to specify why the apex court should not hear the petition. To this, he said, “the Bombay High Court is seized of the matter and in my opinion the Supreme Court should not hear this matter. If the court goes ahead with the hearing, it may have implications before the high court.”

Dave said he has been representing Bombay Lawyers' Association before the high court. Senior advocate Indira Jaising, who was also present in the courtroom, said she also had instructions from Bombay Lawyers' Association to pray that this matter should not be heard by the top court.