Judge Loya death:'SC ruling defeated Cong plan to end Amit

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani today said the Supreme Court's ruling on deceased special CBI court judge B H Loya has "defeated" the Congress' conspiracy to "finish" the political career of BJP chief Amit Shah.

He said the Congress had earlier attempted to target Shah in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh alleged fake encounter case.

"This was the second attempt of the Congress to end Shah's political career. When the Congress and Rahul Gandhi failed to win hearts of the people, they decided to rake up an unfortunate death (of judge Loya). They filed a PIL in Supreme Court, their MPs met President and Rahul made allegations to defame the BJP chief in a press conference (regarding Loya's death)," Rupani told reporters in Gandhinagar.

The apex court today ruled that judge Loya died of natural causes in Maharashtra's Nagpur in 2014 and dismissed pleas seeking an independent probe into his death.

"This is the second time they tried to finish the political career of our national president. First they tried to do it in 2010 when they had conspired to arrest him in the Soharabuddin (Sheikh) case," Rupani said.

Shah, former minister of state for Home, Gujarat, was one of the accused in the fake encounter case and was arrested in 2010. He was later discharged by a CBI court in Mumbai from the case.

"They had failed earlier. They have failed this time also due to the verdict of the Supreme Court," said Rupani, who is believed to be close to Shah.

He said today's ruling by the top court is "very important", as it says that the PILs in the judge's death were political in nature and have been filed to settle scores.