Nearly three and a half years after acquittal by a trial court,the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a criminal appeal in the Chhattisgarh High Court,challenging the acquittal of Amit Jogi,son of former chief minister Ajit Jogi,in the case of murder of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader nearly eight years ago. The CBI has preferred an appeal against his acquittal by the tribal court,Central Investigative agency sources said. Ram Avatar Jaggi,a leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was shot dead by unidentified persons on June four,2003just few months before the state was scheduled to go for its maiden pollsduring the tenure of Ajit Jogi as Chief Minister. Initially,the state police arrested a group of criminals from Uttar Pradesh,claiming that robbery was the motive behind the murder. However,Vidya Charan Shuklawho was then in NCPand Jaggis family members alleged that it was a political murder and demanded handing over to the case to the CBI for investigation. In the 2003 December polls,BJP came to power and the state government handed over the case to the CBI on a request of Jaggis family. The CBI,which investigated the case,found holes in the state police theory of robbery as motive behind the killing and arrested several other persons on the charge of murder and also slapped cases against few policemen who initially investigated the case. CBI also arrested Amit Jogi in 2005 and charged him with plotting the murder. However,a special CBI court in Raipur later acquitted Amit Jogi but convicted all other accused and sentenced some of them for life imprisonment. Three Chhattisgarh policemen have been sentenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment and directed to pay a fine of Rs 1,000. Amit Jogi,now a practicing lawyer,is also active in state politics.
