Jogi granted bail in Jaggi murder case

Raipur, Mar 20 (UNI) Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi was today granted bail by a local court following his arrest in a 'private complaint' case related to the murder of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ramavtar Jaggi in June 2003.

Additional District and Sessions Judge B L Tidke granted bail to Mr Jogi on a personal bond of Rs one lakh and two sureties of Rs 50,000 each, observing that there was no possibility of the accused influencing the witnesses as their statements had already been recorded in the trial court.

The court observed that the complainant had produced the list of same witnesses and many of them had already deposed before the court, where the trial of Jaggi murder case is being held.

Earlier during the day, the court heard the arguments of the counsels of both Mr Jogi and the complainant Satish Jaggi, son of the slain NCP leader, who had filed a 'private complaint', seeking to array the former chief minister as one of the accused in the murder case.

On the basis of a warrant issued by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Satyabhama Ajay Dubey after hearing the complaint of Mr Satish Jaggi, the former Chief Minister was arrested by police on Sunday night while campaigning for the Lok Sabha byelection in Rajnandgaon.

After his arrest, Mr Jogi had moved an application for bail yesterday before Judicial Magistrate first class (JMFC) Praveen Pradhan, who, however, rejected the application on the grounds of jurisdiction.

Subsequently, the former chief minister moved an application in the sessions court.

NCP leader Ram Avatar Jaggi was shot dead by unidentified persons on June 4, 2003 -- just six months prior to the maiden assembly elections in Chhattisgarh. His family members and opposition parties had alleged involvement of Mr Jogi, who was chief minister at that time.

Initially, the police arrested five criminals from Uttar Pradesh claiming that they had shot Mr Jaggi after he put up resistance during an attempt to loot him.

After BJP came to power, Dr Raman Singh government handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation which after fresh investigations arrested Mr Jogi's son Amit and others in connection with the murder.

UNI