Judge Loya case was to damage reputation of Amit Shah, urge Rahul not to use court for political fight: RS Prasad

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday hit-out at Congress Party and urged Rahul Gandhi not to use the court to fight political battles after the Supreme Court dismissed pleas to seek probe in Judge Loya's death.

The Supreme Court today dismissed pleas seeking an independent probe into the death of special CBI judge B H Loya, ruling that the judge died of natural causes and the petitions were a serious attempt to scandalise and obstruct the course of justice.

Dismissing the pleas, the-three-judge-bench also held that all litigations concerning circumstances of the death of judge Loya is concluded with this judgement. 

The top court dubbed the PILs into the death of judge Loya who was hearing the high-profile Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, as frivolous and motivated litigations to settle political scores and rivalry were behind the "facade of the PIL" to malign the dignity of judicial officers and Bombay High Court judges.

Reacting to the judgment, Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "This case was not activated to serve the public interest but to serve the interests of Congress."

Stating that the court said political battles must be fought on political grounds, Prasad said, "It clearly means that the case was fought as a political battle against our party President Amit Shah."

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

The top court said the judicial process will be reduced to a "charade" if the courts are burdened with such cases with extraneous reasons.

A batch of pleas, including those filed by Congress leader Tehseen Poonawala and Maharashtra-based BS Lone, was filed in the top court seeking an independent probe into Loya's death in 2014.