Chhattisgarh High Court convicts Amit Jogi in 2003 NCP leader murder case

The Chhattisgarh High Court on Thursday (April 2, 2026) convicted Amit Jogi, son of former Prime Minister late Ajit Jogi, in a 2003 murder case and gave him three weeks to surrender.

The case relates to the murder of businessman-politician Ramavatar Jaggi in Raipur, when Ajit Jogi was the chief minister of the state. 28 people were convicted in the case by a special CBI court in 2007, but Mr. Amit Jogi was acquitted for benefit of doubt.

In 2011, the CBI approached the Supreme Court challenging the acquittal order, but the appeal was rejected by the HC citing delay. The investigating agency then moved the Supreme Court, which sent the case back to the Supreme Court last November and held six to seven hearings in the matter, including Thursday’s plea, sources said.

After the verdict, Mr. Amit Jogi said that it was a great injustice done to him.

“Today, the Supreme Court accepted the CBI appeal against me in just 40 minutes – without giving me an opportunity to be heard. I regret that a person whom the court had previously acquitted has now been convicted without being given a single opportunity for trial. This is an unprecedented situation. The court has given me a time of three weeks to surrender. I feel a great injustice has been done to me. I have full faith and belief that I will definitely get justice from the Supreme Court.”

Satish Jaggi, son of Ramavatar Jaggi, hailed the decision as the victory of truth and added that his family’s two-decade-long struggle had finally borne fruit.

“I express my deepest gratitude to the hundreds of thousands of people who have stood by me throughout this entire journey in the cause of justice. In the end, the prime accused Amit Jogi will be sent to jail. Although the Jaggi family cannot fully rejoice over this – because I have lost a father – justice has indeed prevailed. For this outcome, I express my sincere gratitude to the Supreme Court, the CBI and everyone involved,” he told reporters.

Ramavatar Jaggi’s murder on June 4, 2003 was a sensational incident ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled for later that year. Jaggi was the treasurer of the Nationalist Congress Party in the state, led by late Vidya Charan Shukla, and his family had alleged that the emergence of NCP in the political fray posed a major challenge to the incumbent Congress.