Former SC judge P B Sawant dies in Pune

Former Supreme Court judge P BSawant died due to cardiac arrest at his residence here inMaharashtra on Monday morning, family sources said.

He was 90.

Justice Sawant was one of the co-conveners of theElgar Parishad conclave held on December 31, 2017 in Pune.

He was also part of a panel that conducted aninvestigation into the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Justice Sawant had also served as chairman of thePress Council of India.

He died at his residence here around 9.30 am on Mondayfollowing cardiac arrest, his daughter Sujata Mane said.

His last rites will be performed on Tuesday.

Justice Sawant is survived by his wife, two daughtersand a son.

Born on June 30, 1930, Justice Sawant enrolled as anadvocate in 1957.

In 1973, he was appointed as an additional judge ofthe Bombay High Court.

In 1989, Justice Sawant was appointed judge of theSupreme Court. He retired in 1995, but remained active inpublic life.

As a judge of the Supreme Court, Sawant had conductedan inquiry into the Air India plane crash at the Bombayairport in 1982.

Justice Sawant (retd) was one of the members of theIndian People's Tribunal, a fact-finding team headed byJustice V.R.Krishna Iyer, to investigate the 2002 communalriots in Gujarat.

In 2003, he headed a commission to investigate thegraft charges levelled by Anna Hazare against four ministers -Suresh Jain, Nawab Malik, Vijaykumar Gavit and PadamsinhPatil- of the then Maharashtra government.

Justice Sawant's report had indicted Malik, Patil andJain, following which they resigned from the state cabinet.

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