By IANS
Raipur : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Chhattisgarh government will appeal in the state high court against the acquittal of Congress leader Ajit Jogi's son in a four-year-old murder case.
According to government sources, the state's law department has decided to move the high court – based in Bilaspur – at the earliest to challenge the May 31 verdict of a lower court in the June 4, 2003, murder of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) state unit treasurer Ramavtar Jaggi.
The district and sessions court judge (atrocities) B.L. Tidke convicted 28 of the 29 people accused in the murder, awarding life imprisonment to 19. Amit Jogi, 30, the son of former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi, was the lone person acquitted.
Among those convicted were four close aides of the Jogi family and three policemen, including a city superintendent of police who was jailed for five years.
"The law department has told the Advocate General to move the high court against Amit Jogi's acquittal. The government will do its best to ensure that Amit be brought to book and the deceased's family gets justice," a senior government official told IANS Monday.
Satish Jaggi, the slain leader's son, had named Ajit Jogi and his son Amit as prime suspects in a police complaint filed within an hour of the killing at the crowded Maudhapara locality in the heart of the city.
The BJP government, which came to power in December 2003, handed over the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in January 2004 following which Amit was arrested in June 2005 in New Delhi.
He spent 10 months in Raipur Central Jail. He was released on bail by the high court and re-arrested on May 2 this year after the Supreme Court set aside his bail.
The CBI filed a charge sheet here at a special court against dozens of people, including Amit, describing him as the "mastermind of the murder plot".
According to sources, the CBI too plans to challenge Amit's acquittal in the high court. The Jaggi family has also said it would approach the high court to ensure that Amit is convicted.