IN A major relief to Amit Jogi, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Chhattisgarh High Court verdict, which had handed down life imprisonment to the son of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi in the 2003 murder case of NCP leader Ramavatar Jaggi. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ramvatar Jaggi was shot dead in Raipur on June 4, 2003, when Ajit Jogi was the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. The Chhattisgarh High Court, on April 2, convicted Jogi and directed him to surrender before jail authorities in three weeks to undergo life imprisonment in the case. On May 31, 2007, a trial court held that the prosecution had successfully proved the charges against 28 accused. It, however, acquitted Amit Jogi, the President of the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), founded by his late father, of the charges levelled against him.

 

A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi took note of the submissions of senior advocates Vivek Tankha and Kapil Sibal, appearing for Jogi, while staying his conviction and the sentence in the case. Senior advocates Sidhharth Luthra and Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the victim’s family member, opposed the submission. While staying the HC verdict, the top court also issued a notice to the CBI on the plea of Jogi. Jogi had moved the top court against the High Court verdict. The HC had reopened proceedings in the 2003 murder case last month following directions from the Supreme Court on an appeal by the CBI.

 

The case, which was initially investigated by the State Police, was later transferred to the CBI, which filed a charge sheet against several accused, including Amit Jogi. The top court, in November last year, had said though the CBI had filed the application after a significant delay, it was equally true that “the charges against respondent Amit Jogi were very grave, involving a conspiracy to murder a member of a rival political party”. The deceased was a close confidant of the then State NCP chief V C Shukla.