Supreme Court
While hearing the murder case of NCP leader Ram Avtar Jaggi in Chhattisgarh, the court granted relief to accused Abhay Goyal and Firoz Siddiqui by granting them bail. The court rejected the bail plea of the main accused, Yahya Dhebar. The petition of other defendants will be heard on December 9.
NCP Netaram Avtar Jaggi was shot dead on June 4, 2003. In this case, the police charged 31 people, of whom 28 were found guilty by the court. Two people became government witnesses, while Amit Jogi was acquitted by the court.
Who was Ram Avtaar Jaggi?
Ram Avtar Jaggi, who had a business background, was a Chhattisgarh Congress leader. He was considered close to former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla. When Shukla left the Congress and joined the NCP, Jaggi also joined the NCP. The PNC had assigned him the responsibility of treasurer.
After parting ways with the Congress, Vidyacharan Shukla worked to expand the NCP in the state and Jaggi also supported him in this work. Jaggi was shot dead before a proposed NCP rally in the state.
The investigation was handed over to the CBI.
Initially, this case was investigated by Chhattisgarh Police, but after a few days it was handed over to the CBI. The CBI investigation revealed that the murder was committed by hired criminals and also revealed that the state police had made efforts to protect the accused.
Accusations were made against CM
Taking cognizance of the incident, the Chhattisgarh High Court accepted that this murder took place due to political rivalry. The prosecution had alleged that due to the NCP’s growing influence in the state, the then Chief Minister Ajit Jogi and his son Amit Jogi had conspired to murder.
The High Court also admitted that several meetings took place between the accused at the Chief Minister’s residence and in hotels. In this case, three police officers, VK Pandey, Amrik Singh Geel and Rakesh Chandra Trivedi, were accused of implicating some people to hide evidence.
