Two petitions, one in the Bombay High Court and the other in the Supreme Court, seek an enquiry into the events and circumstances surrounding Loya’s death

The Supreme Court on Friday termed the alleged mysterious death of CBI judge B.H. Loya, who was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case, as a “serious matter” and asked the Maharashtra government to respond by January 15.

A Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra said the case should be heard bi-parte rather than ex-parte while asking the Maharashtra government to file the judge’s autopsy report.

The Bench decided to hear the case despite protests from the Bombay Lawyers Association, represented by senor advocate Dushyant Dave, that it has already filed an identical case and it is pending before the Bombay High Court.

The SC is hearing petitions filed by Maharashtra-based journalist B.R. Lone for a probe into Loya’s death on December 1, 2014. Another petition has also been filed by Congress leader Tehseen Poonawala on the same issue.

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 issue came under the spotlight in November last year after media reports quoting his sister fuelled suspicion about the circumstances surrounding his death and its link to the Sohrabuddin case. Mr. Poonawala, in his plea, said the circumstances of the death of the judge were “questionable, mysterious and contradicting.”

The other plea filed by the journalist submitted that a fair probe was needed into the mysterious death of Loya, who was hearing the sensitive Sohrabuddin encounter case in which various police officers and BJP president Amit Shah were named as parties.