Appoint new trial judge in Jaggi murder case: SC

New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) The Supreme Court today requested the Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court to appoint a new trial judge in the Avtar Singh Jaggi murder case in which Amit Jogi, the son of former state Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, is the main accused.

A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhan and V S Sirpurkar issued the directions on a petiton filed by Satish Jaggi, the son of the deceased.

The court requested the High Court to appoint the new trial judge in consultation with the concerned district judge. It also directed the trial judge to conclude the trial by May 30 this year.

The petitioner contended that the present trial court judge, Sanman Singh, is the brother of the Congress MLA from the state, Gulab Singh, and the main accused, Amit Jogi, is the son of former Congress Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and hence, a free and fair trial was not possible in his court.

He also contended that after the transfer of the case to Sanman Singh's court, Amit Jogi had dropped the list of defence witnesses for speedy disposal of the case which is ironic as the defence witnesses list contained more than 200 witnesses.

The court disposed of the petition with the above stated directions.

State NCP treasurer Avtar Singh Jaggi was shot dead in 2001 when he was busy in election campaign. The investigation of the case was transferred to the CBI and Amit Jogi was arrested after two years and granted bail by the State High Court.

UNI