The Supreme Court witnessed heated exchange among senior lawyers on Monday during the hearing in Justice Loya case, prompting the bench to shout the lawyers down.
The three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, is hearing petitions seeking an independent investigation into the alleged mysterious death of special CBI judge B H Loya in 2014. The other two judges on the bench are Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice AM Khanwilkar.
Dushyant Dave, the counsel for petitioners Bombay Lawyers Association who are demanding a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case, today objected to senior lawyer Harish Salve's presence. Dave argued that Salve has previously represented BJP chief Amit Shah - one of the accused who was later discharged - in the case and hence should stay away.
The petitioners also objected to the presence of another senior lawyer, Pallav Sisodia, referring to the conflict of interest since he too had appeared for Shah.
Soon the decibel levels rose and Justice DY Chandrachud, part of the CJI-led bench, snapped at the lawyers, "You should maintain the decorum of the court, this is not a fish market."
Justice 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. At that time was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case, in which BJP chief Amit Shah was an accused.
The judge who replaced justice Loya had ruled that there was no evidence against the BJP chief to be put on trial.
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His death came under the spotlight in November last year after media reports quoting his sister fuelled suspicion about the circumstances surrounding it.
Loya's family has since said that they no longer believe foul play was involved in his death.
Anuj Loya, the son of special CBI judge, said on January 14 that his father had died of natural causes and that the family does not want any further investigation.
During the hearing on January 22, the Supreme Court had restrained other high courts from entertaining any petition relating to Loya's death and transferred to itself the pleas pending before the Bombay High Court.
