New Delhi, Jan 20: A week after four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court made their dissent public -- the immediate trigger for which was the allotment of Justice B H Loya's death case to a relatively junior bench -- the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra has appointed himself at the helm of the three-member bench which will hear two petitions on Monday seeking an independent probe into the death of Justice Loya.

Along with CJI Misra, Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud will be part of the bench.

Justices Arun Mishra and M M Shantanagoudar, who were earlier tasked by the CJI to hear the petitions seeking probe into Justice Loya's death, are not part of the newly constituted bench.

The development also comes a couple of days after Justice Arun Mishra, while hearing the PILs in Justice Loya's death case on Thursday, ordered the listing of an "appropriate bench" to hear the matter. Speculations were rife whether the order was an indication towards Justices Mishra and Shantagoudar recusing themselves from the matter, amid the ongoing controversy over the case's allotment.

The two PILs in the matter have been filed by political activist Tehseen Poonawala and Mumbai-based journalist BR Lone. The top court on Thursday instructed the Maharashtra government to share all official documents related to Justice Loya's death case, saying, "The petitioners have the right to know everything about it."

Justice Loya died on December 1, 2014 in Nagpur where he had went to attend the marriage of a judge's daughter. He died due to a heart attack, claims the official report. However, a recent report by the Caravan Magazine quoted his sister of being doubtful about the exact reason of his death, adding that the judge was "under pressure" as he was presiding over the Special CBI Court bench which was hearing the Sohrabuddin Sheikh encounter case.

Anuj Loya, the 21-year-old son of Justice Loya, addressed a press conference earlier in the week to disassociate himself and his family from the apprehensions raised over his father's death by his aunt. "We have no suspicion or doubt whatsoever over the fact that my father had died due to a heart attack. We do not want to be harassed by the media," he had said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 20, 2018 04:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).