Discussing CJI Dipak Misra impeachment proposal with parties: Kapil Sibal

Kapil Sibal’s remarks came at a press conference held at AICC headquarters with Nagpur-based lawyer Satish Uke, two days before the Supreme Court is to hear petitions demanding an independent probe into the death of Special CBI Judge Brijmohan Loya in December 2014

cji dipak misra, chief jsutice of india, cji misra, cji misra impeachment, judges impeachement, Kapil Sinbal, supreme court, indian express

Two days before the Supreme Court is to hear petitions demanding an independent probe into the death of Special CBI Judge Brijmohan Loya in December 2014, the Congress today said it was discussing with other parties a proposal by the CPI(M) to bring an impeachment motion against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra as it raised fresh allegations regarding the judge’s death and attempted to link two more deaths to the case.

“As far as impeachment is concerned, the matter is serious. Leaders of the Left parties have spoken to us. We are also talking to others. Such decisions cannot be taken in a hurry,” said senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal. Most legal experts in the Congress, however, are of the view that the party should exercise caution and not rush to back a motion seeking impeachment of the CJI.

Read | As Opposition mulls CJI impeachment, look at judges who faced proceedings

Story continues below this ad

Sibal’s remarks came at a press conference held at AICC headquarters with Nagpur-based lawyer Satish Uke. Sibal demanded a probe by non-NIA, non-CBI officers .

CJI Dipak Misra at a health camp at the Supreme Court Wednesday. (Express Photo: Prem Nath Pandey)

Sibal, flanked by Salman Khurshid, Vivek Tankha, Randeep Surjewala, said that Uke had met him in July 2017 and told him that Loya had reached out to him in October 2014. Loya died on December 1, 2014 while hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

OPINION | Do we have justiciable evidence against CJI Dipak Misra?

“He (Uke) told me that two people had come to him in 2014. One was activist lawyer Shrikant Khandalkar and the other was retired district judge Prakash Thombre. They told him (Uke) that Judge Loya…was scared and wanted to decide impartially on an important case in his court,” Sibal said.

Story continues below this ad

Sibal said that according to Uke, Khandalkar, Thombre and Uke spoke to Loya. “Judge Loya told him he was under tremendous pressure. And he had received a draft order and people want him to sign on that draft order,” claimed Sibal. Sibal claimed Uke and Thombre met senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan in Delhi in November 2014 and handed over the “draft order” to him. “Prashant Bhushan heard them but told them he cannot help them much” because there’s not enough evidence to move court. When contacted, Bhushan told The Indian Express: “It has been more than three years…he might have visited and discussed the case but I do not recall any details about the meeting if it took place.” Sibal said he cannot say anything about Judge Loya’s death — whether it is natural or not — but “the circumstances tell a story by itself.”

Sibal claimed that Khandalkar informed Uke in October 2015 that he was getting death threats and on November 29, fell to his death from an eight-storey district court building in Nagpur. “His family said it was murder and there was a conspiracy behind his death,” Sibal said. He said Thombre informed Uke in 2016 that he, too, got death threats and on May 16, 2016, Thombre died on board a train.

As for Uke, he too claimed he had a narrow escape in 2016 when “iron material about 5000 kg” suddenly fell on his office roof “within a minute” of him stepping out. Last year, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court held Uke guilty of contempt.

Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram