Delhi: The Supreme Court here today dismissed petitions seeking an independent probe into the death of special CBI judge Brijmohan Harikishan Loya. The top court, ruling that the death was due to “natural causes”, observed that the petitioners tried to scandalise the judiciary. A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, pronounced its verdict after hearing a clutch of petitions.

Records show that Loya died of a heart attack in Nagpur, Maharashtra, on December 1, 2014. The petitioners, however, had moved the top court alleging he died under “mysterious” circumstances. At the time of his death in 2014, he was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh “fake encounter” case, in which BJP president Amit Shah was named an accused. Shah was later acquitted in the case.

There were heated exchanges between the counsels for the petitioners and the state of Maharashtra during the hearing. While the petitioners raised questions on the circumstances surrounding Loya’s death, the state had called the claims motivated.