Chhattisgarh HC sentences Amit Jogi to life in 2003 murder case

The Chhattisgarh High Court has sentenced Amit Jogi, son of former chief minister Ajit Jogi, to life imprisonment for the 2003 murder of NCP leader Ramavatar Jaggi, observing that he was the "mastermind" and "driving force" behind the conspiracy. A division bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Arvind Kumar Verma, in its April 2 order, set aside a trial court's 2007 judgment acquitting Amit Jogi, holding it as "palpably illegal, wrong, perverse and contrary to the evidence on record". A copy of the order passed on April 2 was made available on Monday.
Ram Avatar Jaggi, a prominent businessman and NCP leader, was shot dead in 2003, in Raipur at a time when Ajit Jogi was the Chief Minister of the newly formed state. Initially, the police treated the case as a robbery and arrested five people. However, after the BJP government came to power, the investigation was transferred to the CBI in 2004. A trial court convicted 28 people in the case in 2007, but Amit was acquitted on the basis of benefit of the doubt. “It is pertinent to note that the learned Trial Judge has unnecessarily attempted to distinguish the role of accused-Amit Jogi from that of the other co-accused/convicts. The finding that the co-accused acted independently to please Amit Jogi, without his knowledge, and in a manner not contemplated by him, is unsustainable. On the contrary, the evidence indicates that the plan to eliminate the NCP office bearers originated from Amit Jogi himself. Therefore, the distinction drawn by the learned Trial Judge is artificial, unwarranted, and devoid of merit,” the High Court order said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has approached the High Court in 2011, challenging the acquittal but the appeal was rejected on grounds of delay. The agency then moved the Supreme Court which referred the case back to the High Court last November. Jaggi was the treasurer of the NCP that was led by the late Vidya Charan Shukla in the state. His family had alleged that the emergence of NCP in the political fray posed a major challenge to the incumbent Congress.