Poll affidavit 'cheating' case: HC grants bail to Amit Jogi

The Chhattisgarh High Court on Thursday granted bail to former MLA and Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J) state chief Amit Jogi, arrested last month for allegedly giving false information in an affidavit submitted by him during the 2013 state assembly election.

The bench of Justice RCS Samant, which had reserved the order after hearing the arguments on his bail plea on September 25, delivered it on Thursday, Jogi's lawyer Vivek Sharma said.

Amit Jogi, son of former chief minister Ajit Jogi, was arrested on September 3 following a police complaint lodged against him by Sameera Paikra, the BJP candidate from the Marwahi seat in the 2013 state Assembly polls, he said.

Paikra had lodged the FIR against Jogi in February this year at Gaurela police station of Bilaspur district, alleging that he submitted wrong information about his birthplace in the affidavit while filing his nomination papers for the 2013 state polls, police had said.

After Jogi's bail pleas were rejected by the lower courts, he had approached the high court, Sharma said.

Senior lawyer Surendra Singh and Sharma had appeared for Jogi during a hearing last month. They had argued that the matter is of documentary evidence and the FIR was registered six year after the polls (held in 2013) and, therefore, no custodial interrogation was necessary.

An election petition on a similar issue had been dismissed by the high court in the past, they said arguing in the court.

As per the complaint by Paikra, Jogi had mentioned his birthplace as Sarbahara village in Gaurela area of Bilaspur, but when he applied for Indian citizenship, he mentioned that he was born in the United States.

Jogi was booked under IPC sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record).

Jogi had won the Assembly poll from Bilaspur's Marwahi seat, reserved for the Scheduled Tribe community, defeating Paikra in 2013.

Currently his father is MLA from Marwahi.

After losing the 2013 polls, Paikra had filed an election petition in the Chhattisgarh High Court, challenging Jogi's caste and place of birth.

The high court had dismissed the petition in January this year on the ground that the term of the Chhattisgarh Assembly (2013-2018) had already ended.