Ajit Jogi hospitalised after arrest

Raipur, Mar 19 (UNI) Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi has been admitted to a private hospital here early this morning after he was arrested following a warrant against him in connection with a 'complaint case' related to the murder of a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader in 2003.

Police sources said Mr Jogi, who was taken into custody while he was busy campaigning for the Rajnandgaon Lok Sabha by-election at Virendra Nagar in Kawardha district late yesterday evening, has been shifted to Escorts hospital after he complained of high blood pressure.

Thye former chief minister is likely to be produced before the court later during the day.

Police had arrested him after Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Satyabhama Ayay Dubey issued a warrant against him after hearing a complaint filed by Mr Satish Jaggi, son of former state NCP treasuer Ram Avatar Jaggi who was shot dead by unidentified persons on June 4, 2003, six months before the maiden assembly elections in Chhattisgarh.

In his complaint filed on March 3, Mr Satish Jaggi had pleaded before the court to array Mr Ajit Jogi, who was then chief minister of the state, as an accused in the conspiracy of murder of his father.

After Mr Jogi's arrest last night, Mr Satish Jaggi told newsmen that he had made repeated pleas to the state police and subsequently to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate into his complaint in which he had named Mr Jogi and others in connection with the case. '' As the investigating agencies failed to do so, I have approached the court with my complaint. I have deposed before the court and given my statement'', he added.

Mr Jogi's counsel Farhan Aktar told newsmen in Raipur that the CBI had already investigated the case and filed charge-sheet in connection with the case of murder of NCP leader Ram Avatar Jaggi. '' Mr Jogi's name did not figure in the list of the accused presented by the CBI'', he pointed out.

The CBI had investigated the murder case of NCP leader Ram Avatar Jaggi and had filed charge-sheet against Mr Jogi's son Amit and several others. Amit Jogi was in a judicial custody and later the high court had granted him bail. The trial is progressing in a court in the state capital.

UNI