The Supreme Court has stayed the conviction of former Chhattisgarh lawmaker Amit Jogi in the 2003 murder of a political opponent, citing that he was not heard before sentencing.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath, Sandeep Mehta, and Vijay Bishnoi questioned how Jogi could be sentenced without being heard, and stayed the effect and operation of the judgment.
Jogi challenged the high court's reversal of a trial court's acquittal order in 2007, arguing it was done without hearing him.
The high court had called the acquittal 'palpably illegal, wrong, perverse, contrary to the evidence available on record and without any concrete basis.'
Amit Jogi was acquitted by the trial court in 2007, but the Chhattisgarh government appealed against the acquittal, claiming it had initially investigated the matter.
The CBI had named Amit Jogi among the accused, concluding that he and four others conspired to disrupt a June 2003 NCP rally by targeting Ramavtar Jaggi.
The Supreme Court has issued a notice on Ajit Jogi's appeal against the high court order to the CBI and the complainant, Satish Jaggi.
