The Supreme Court has granted interim relief to Amit Jogi by staying his conviction and life sentence in the 2003 murder case of NCP leader Ram Avtar Jaggi. This decision comes after Jogi challenged the Chhattisgarh High Court’s verdict that reversed his acquittal and ordered him to surrender. The apex court’s order effectively protects Jogi from undergoing the life imprisonment imposed by the Chhattisgarh High Court.
The case revolves around the killing of Ram Avtar Jaggi, a businessman and senior NCP leader, who was shot dead in Raipur on June 4, 2003, during Ajit Jogi’s tenure as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. Amit Jogi, son of Ajit Jogi, was recently convicted by the Chhattisgarh High Court for criminal conspiracy and murder, overturning a 2007 trial court judgment that had acquitted him due to insufficient evidence.
The Chhattisgarh High Court had instructed Amit Jogi to surrender within three weeks, diverging from the trial court’s decision that had given him the benefit of the doubt while convicting 28 other accused. The High Court’s ruling was based on the appeals filed by the CBI and the victim’s family, emphasizing that the evidence used to convict the co-accused could not be disregarded in Jogi’s case.
Amit Jogi, dissatisfied with the High Court’s verdict, approached the Supreme Court to challenge his conviction in this long-standing case. The legal battle has involved multiple proceedings, with the Supreme Court previously directing the Chhattisgarh High Court to re-examine the appeal against Amit Jogi’s acquittal on its merits.
