Supreme Court stays Chhattisgarh HC judgment convicting Amit Jogi for 2003 murder

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the judgment of Chhattisgarh high court convicting former chief minister Ajit Jogi's son Amit for the 2003 murder of NCP func Ramavatar Jaggi and sentencing him to life imprisonment. The bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta and Vijay Bishnoi also raised questions over the manner in which HC dealt with the case after it was alleged that Amit Jogi was not given a proper hearing. "What kind of judgment... conviction and sentence before hearing?" the bench asked. In 2007, trial court acquitted Amit Jogi In 2007, a trial court had convicted other accused persons but acquitted Amit Jogi. CBI, thereafter, moved HC against his acquittal. In 2011, HC dismissed CBI's appeal as non-maintainable, but re-examined the case after SC disagreed with this view and directed it to decide CBI's appeal on its merits. Subsequently, high court set aside the trial court's acquittal order, saying that Amit Jogi was the "mastermind, principal architect and driving force behind the conspiracy".