Order on Jogi's bail plea reserved

Raipur, Mar 20 (UNI) Additional District and Sessions Judge B L Tidke today reserved till this evening the order on the bail application of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, who was arrested Sunday night on the basis of warrant issued by a local court in connection with the case of murder of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ramavtar Jaggi in 2003.

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

Jogi was arrested by the police on Sunday night on the basis of a warrant issued by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Satyabhama Ajay Dubey after hearing the complaint of Satish Jaggi.

After his arrest, Mr Jogi had moved an application for bail yesterday and the 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 before the maiden assembly elections in the state. His family members and opposition parties had alleged involvement of 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 the BJP came to power, the Raman Singh government handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation which, after fresh investigations, arrested Jogi's son Amit and others in connection with the murder.

UNI