caravan magazine's series of articles on justice loya's death really drives in the sheer hopelessness of our justice system
Other questions, too, remain unanswered. Why was the family not informed when Loya was taken to hospital? Why were they not informed as soon as he died? Why were they not asked for approval of a post-mortem, or informed that one was to be performed, before the procedure was carried out? Who recommended the post-mortem, and why? What was suspicious about Loyaâs death to cause a post-mortem to be recommended? What medication was administered to him at Dande Hospital? Was there not a single vehicle in Ravi Bhavanâwhich regularly hosts VIPs, including ministers, IAS and IPS officers and judgesâavailable to ferry Loya to hospital?
According to Biyani, âMy brother was offered a bribe of 100 crore in return for a favourable judgment. Mohit Shah, the chief justice, made the offer himself.â
She added that Mohit Shah told her brother that if âthe judgment is delivered before 30 December, it wonât be under focus at all because at the same time, there was going to be another explosive story which would ensure that people would not take notice of this.â
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On 30 December, around one month after Loyaâs death, Gosavi upheld the defenceâs argument that the CBI had political motives for implicating the accused. With that, he discharged Amit Shah.
The same day, news of MS Dhoniâs retirement from test cricket dominated television screens across the country. As Biyani recounted, âThere was just a ticker at the bottom which said, âAmit Shah not guilty. Amit Shah not guilty.ââ
It is unlikely that the frenzied activity the judges described in their statements was a quiet affair. The deterioration of Loyaâs health, the call Kulkarni placed to Barde, the subsequent arrival of Barde and Rathi in the car, the conversation between the judges when Loya came âdown,â and the eventual departure of the judges with the ailing Loya for Dande hospitalâall would have likely caused a significant amount of noise, if not a downright commotion.
Yet, according to the 17 current and former employees of Ravi Bhawan, none of the staff members who were on duty that nightâfrom reception, to room service and miscellaneous dutiesârealised that a guest had been taken to the hospital early in the morning on 1 December 2014. âWe didnât even know that one of the judges staying at our premises at that time had died. We only found out when the papers started writing about it [in 2017] and the inquiry began,â the third employee I met told me. Fifteen of the 17 current and former employees told me that they learned of Loyaâs death the same way. The remaining two were not even aware that a guest had died until I interviewed them.
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The question of Loyaâs personal belongings is key: The Caravan reported earlier that according to Loyaâs sister, Anuradha Biyani, the family was handed the judgeâs phone three days after his death. Who took out Loyaâs personal belongings from Ravi Bhawanâand whether he was in fact staying thereâremains unclear. That 17 current and former employees of Ravi Bhawan had no knowledge of his death until three years later, and could not recall any details regarding the chain of events the judges described, reiterates the troubling nature of the circumstances surrounding Loyaâs death.
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