The Chhattisgarh High Court has sentenced Amit Jogi, son of Chhattisgarh’s first chief minister Ajit Jogi, to life imprisonment in connection with the 2003 murder of Ram Avtar Jaggi, who was a treasurer for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Last week, the High Court overturned a trial court’s acquittal of Amit Jogi in the case. The trial court had convicted all the accused, except for Jogi.
On Monday, Amit Jogi moved the Supreme Court against the High Court order. The top court has listed the matter for hearing on April 20.
While delivering the verdict on April 2, the High Court’s Division Bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Arvind Kumar Verma said, “…we are of the considered opinion that the judgment passed by the learned trial Judge acquitting the accused Amit Jogi is palpably illegal, wrong, perverse, contrary to the evidence available on record and without any concrete basis.”
The murder took place on June 4, 2003. Jaggi was shot dead while returning from a meeting held to discuss a political rally for the NCP. The local police arrested five people in connection with the killing and filed a chargesheet against them.
However, in 2004, the case was handed over to the CBI, which filed a supplementary chargesheet against Amit Jogi and 30 accused persons, including the five already charge-sheeted.
While initially, the motive for the killing was recorded as robbery, the CBI alleged that Jaggi was murdered due to political reasons. It was alleged that the deceased was organising a major NCP rally in Raipur on June 10, 2003, which was “expected to draw a large crowd and was perceived as a political threat to the then Chief Minister, Ajit Jogi…and his son Amit Jogi”, as per the CBI.
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The central said the murder was carried out by one Chiman Singh, pursuant to a criminal conspiracy involving Amit Jogi, Yahya Dhebar, Abhay Goel, and Feroz Sidhique. The trial court convicted all the accused in the case, except Amit Jogi. Eighteen accused were given life imprisonment.
The CBI moved the Chhattisgarh High Court in 2011 against Amit’s acquittal, but it was thrown out on the grounds of delay in filing the appeal. The CBI later went to the Supreme Court, after which, on November 6 last year, the matter was referred by the apex court to the High Court, asking the latter to decide the matter on the basis of merit.
While arguing the matter in the High Court, the CBI’s counsel, Vaibhav Goverdhan, said, “The trial court has committed a grave error of law by acquitting Amit Jogi, as on the same set of evidence which has been believed and relied by the learned trial Judge to convict the other accused, has disbelieved the same with respect to the accused, Amit Jogi. There is ample evidence on record to show that the accused, Amit Jogi, was actively involved in hatching of the conspiracy and he was the key person on whose command and direction, the entire offence was committed.”
The CBI counsel added that the trial court’s order was a “miscarriage of justice” and that Amit Jogi was acquitted on the basis of “assumptions, surmises and guesswork without any legal basis and by appreciating the evidence perversely”.
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In its order, the High Court termed Amit Jogi the mastermind in the case. The order read, “Upon a comprehensive evaluation of the foregoing analysis, this Court is of the considered view that the findings recorded by the learned Special Judge, insofar as they relate to the acquittal of the accused, Amit Jogi, are erroneous and not borne out by the evidence on record. On the contrary, from the entire evidence, it is amply clear that Amit Jogi was the mastermind of the entire conspiracy and he was also having the commanding position being the son of the then Chief Minister. He was an influential person to such an extent that he could manage Police authorities to arrange for persons who could forge themselves as the assailants.”
The HC order also pulled up the trial court, saying, “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 distinction drawn by the learned Trial Judge is artificial, unwarranted, and devoid of merit.”
The court convicted Amit Jogi under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
