No solid proof to reopen Loya case: Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government isn’t currently considering reinvestigating the death of judge BH Loya, because it hasn’t found anything substantial other than claims warranting reopening of the case, state home minister Anil Deshmukh said.

However, the state is taking a relook at the investigation into the Bhima Koregaon and the ‘urban naxal’ cases, Deshmukh told ET . The minister said also his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was against the implementation of the new citizenship law.

Earlier this month, Deshmukh claimed that a few people had approached him and were ready to “give documents” about foul play in the judge’s death in 2014. “All these people were talking verbally, there is no solid document or positive proof that they have given so far,” he said.


Loya was the judge hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case. The previous BJP-led government in Maharashtra told the Supreme Court in early 2018 that it had conducted a discreet inquiry which cleared his death as a sudden natural death. The court later dismissed petitions seeking a fresh probe.

But ever since the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine came to power late last year, there have been signals that the government would reopen the case.

“As of now there is no question of reopening the case … unless someone gives (evidence or documents),” Deshmukh told ET.

On the Bhima Koregaon and urban naxal cases, the minister said things would be clearer after holding a review meeting of the officers who had investigated both issues. In a meeting on Thursday, officers presented details of their investigation and how they concluded that some of the activists were urban naxals. The government will consider the evidence in both cases and have them vetted independently through other police officials said government sources.