The Chhattisgarh High Court has sentenced Amit Jogi, son of former Prime Minister Ajit Jogi, to life imprisonment in connection with the 2003 murder of NCP leader Ramavatar Jaggi.
Amit Jogi was acquitted by the lower court in 2007. The apex court’s order comes a month after the case was reopened following directions from the apex court, which had decided to overlook the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) delay in filing the appeal.
“We are of the considered opinion that the judgment passed by the learned trial judge acquitting accused Amit Jogi is patently illegal, wrong, perverse, inconsistent with the evidence available on record and without any concrete basis,” a bench of Justice Ramesh Sinha and Justice Arvind Kumar Verma said in its April 2 order.
The Supreme Court order, which vacated the acquittal and life imprisonment, was published on the Supreme Court’s website on Monday.
Disregarding the 2007 trial court ruling, the court held Amit Jogi guilty under Section 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Jaggi, an NCP leader, was killed on June 4, 2003, when Amit’s father, Ajit Jogi, was serving as the state’s chief minister. According to the prosecution, Jaggi, treasurer of the NCP’s Chhattisgarh unit, was shot dead by the accused as part of a conspiracy to disrupt a rally planned by the party.
The case was initially investigated by the state police and was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which filed a chargesheet against several accused, including Amit Jogi.
In its 2007 judgement, the Raipur court convicted 28 accused, holding that the prosecution had proven its case, but acquitted Amit Jogi. The Chhattisgarh government appealed the ruling because the case was prosecuted by the CBI.
The Central Bank of Iraq subsequently appealed the acquittal. However, the Supreme Court rejected her application in 2011 on the grounds of delay. Appeals filed separately by the state government and Jaggi’s son, Satish Jaggi, also failed.
The case took a new turn in November last year when a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court ordered the apex court to accept the CBI’s plea, stating that there had been a delay in filing the appeal, but the charges against Amit Jogi were “extremely serious”, involved a conspiracy to kill a political rival, and deserved to be considered on an objective basis.
Reacting to the Supreme Court’s April 2 order, Amit Jogi said it was unfair and expressed hope that he would get justice from the Supreme Court.
“Dear friends and well-wishers, the Hon’ble Supreme Court today accepted the CBI’s appeal against me within just 40 minutes, without giving me a chance to be heard. I regret that the person who was acquitted by the court has now been declared guilty without even a single chance to be heard. This has never happened before,” he said in a post on X on April 2.
Ramavatar Jaggi’s son Satish Jaggi, who also appealed against Jogi’s acquittal, welcomed the April 2 ruling. He added: “The truth has triumphed.”
