Institute of Legal and Management Studies

In a significant development, the Supreme Court revived the CBI's appeal before the Chhattisgarh High Court against the acquittal of Amit Jogi, son of former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, in a high-profile murder case of political leader Ramavatar Jaggi.

Against the acquittal of Amit Jogi, three appeals were filed. One was filed by the CBI, and the other two were filed by the state government and the complainant. The High Court had dismissed CBI's appeal on the ground of delay and other appeals as non-maintainable.

Allowing the CBI's appeal, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol, and Sandeep Mehta directed the High Court to consider the CBI's application for leave to appeal afresh. However, it dismissed the appeals filed by the State of Chhattisgarh and the complainant.

The Court held that, in view of the decision in Lalu Prasad Yadav and Anr. v. State of Bihar and Anr. (2010) 5 SCC 1, the State Government has no right to appeal under Section 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) in cases investigated by the CBI. It further observed that since Amit Jogi's acquittal was pronounced in 2007, before the proviso to Section 372 CrPC (victim's right to appeal against acquittal) came into effect on December 31, 2009, the complainant's appeal was also not maintainable, as clarified in Mallikarjun Kodagali (Dead) represented through LRs v. State of Karnataka and Ors. (2019) 2 SCC 752.

The case relates to June 4, 2003, when Ramavatar Jaggi, a political figure, was murdered. The State Police initially investigated and filed a chargesheet, but the probe was later transferred to the CBI following dissatisfaction with the investigation. The CBI filed a fresh chargesheet accusing Amit Jogi, son of the then CM Ajit Jogi of conspiracy to murder.

On May 31, 2007, the trial court convicted 28 accused persons but acquitted Amit Jogi due to a lack of evidence. Appeals were then filed in the High Court by the State, the complainant, and the CBI. The High Court dismissed all three, holding the State's and complainant's appeals as non-maintainable, and rejecting the CBI's appeal on account of delay.

The judgment authored by Justice Nath upheld the High Court's decisions to dismiss the appeals filed by the State of Chhattisgarh and the victim's son, Satish Jaggi. However, the Court took a different view of the CBI's delayed appeal, looking towards the seriousness of the allegations labelled against the Respondent.

“We may hasten to add that we are not giving any imprimatur to the explanation offered by the CBI in its application for condonation of delay, but our objective is to ensure that the case involving such grave allegations should not be thrown out on mere technicalities.”, the court said.

In a rare procedural step, the Court also specifically allowed Respondent(Jogi) an opportunity to be heard at this initial stage, given the extraordinary circumstances of the condoned delay.

“Although, at the stage of grant of leave to appeal, the acquitted accused is ordinarily not required to be heard, however, in the peculiar facts of the present case, since we have condoned the significant delay occasioned by the CBI in filing the application for grant of leave to appeal, we consider it expedient, in the interest of justice, to permit the respondent-Amit Jogi (acquitted accused) an opportunity of hearing in the application seeking leave to appeal. The de-facto-complainant as well as the State of Chhattisgarh shall also be impleaded as parties in the CBI's application seeking leave to appeal and would be entitled to advance their respective submissions before the High Court.”, the court held.

Cause Title: CBI v. Amit Aishwarya Jogi, SLP(CRL.) NO. 3037 OF 2012

Citation : 2025 LiveLaw (SC) 1069

Click here to download the judgment

Appearance:

For Appellant(s) : Mr. Ravi Sharma, D.A.G. Mrs. Prerna Dhall, Adv. Ms. Karishma Rajput, Adv. Mr. M N Gopinadh, Adv. Mr. Prashant Singh, AOR Mrs. Kanchan Kaur Dhodi, AOR Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR

For Respondent(s) :Mrs. Sonia Mathur, Sr. Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Sanjay Kumar Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Rajan Kumar Chourasia, Adv. Mr. Sushil Kumar Dubey, Adv. Mr. Jagdish Chandra Solanki, Adv. Mr. Rahul Sharma, Adv. Mrs. Reeta Dewan Puri, Adv. Ms. Smriti Puri, Adv. Dr. Saurabh Kapoor, Adv. Mr. P. N. Puri, AOR Mr. Ravi Sharma, D.A.G. Mrs. Prerna Dhall, Adv. Ms. Karishma Rajput, Adv. Mr. M N Gopinadh, Adv. Mr. Shivam Ganeshia, Adv. Mr. Prashant Singh, AOR Mr. Sumeer Sodhi, AOR